Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Representative to the US Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) told a Washington press conference on Thursday that he had held “intense and meaningful” conversations with US officials over the past few days, covering a wide array of issues from the Sunflower movement to security problems in the South China Sea.
Wu visits Washington every few months to explain the DPP’s policies and to hear the views and perspectives of the US policy community.
There have been reports of concern within the US government that the DPP was responsible for organizing and promoting the Sunflower movement and its takeover of the Legislative Yuan and the Executive Yuan in Taipei.
However, Wu said he had not heard any criticisms on this issue from the officials he met and that US officials had a “neutral” stance on the movement.
“I can tell you that the US government has not made any kind of criticism of the DPP or accused it of instigating or organizing student protests,” he said.
Wu said the DPP had been criticized for “advocacy and lobbying” in Washington for the Sunflower movement, but such criticisms were without basis.
“From the very beginning, when I was appointed to this position, I pledged that I would not bring our domestic political disputes to Washington and that pledge remains in place — we have no interest in taking these disputes abroad,” he said.
He said he had told US officials that there were three major causes for the movement: unemployment among and low salaries for college graduates; a need for constitutional reform to improve the nation’s government and apprehension about cross-strait relations.
President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration has said it is willing to talk about and review the cross-strait services trade pact, but it is not willing to change any part of it, Wu said.
It had led to widespread concern the Ma government might sign another agreement with China — “something totally unexpected that we cannot change” — that would turn out to be “a nightmare for the people of Taiwan,” he said.
It was these factors that had created “unrest and anxiety” in Taiwan and the Ma administration had done little to improve them, he said.
Wu said that he had also discussed US President Barack Obama’s recent four-nation trip to Asia and tensions between China and Vietnam in the South China Sea. “The US is concerned about the rising tensions as the chances for conflict continue to escalate,” he said.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Many Japanese couples are coming to Taiwan to obtain donated sperm or eggs for fertility treatment due to conservatism in their home country, Taiwan’s high standards and low costs, doctors said. One in every six couples in Japan is receiving infertility treatment, Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare data show. About 70,000 children are born in Japan every year through in vitro fertilization (IVF), or about one in every 11 children born. Few people accept donated reproductive cells in Japan due to a lack of clear regulations, leaving treatment in a “gray zone,” Taichung Nuwa Fertility Center medical director Wang Huai-ling (王懷麟)
A pro-Russia hacker group has launched a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack on the Taiwanese government in retaliation for President William Lai’s (賴清德) comments suggesting that China should have a territorial dispute with Russia, an information security company said today. The hacker group, NoName057, recently launched an HTTPs flood attack called “DDoSia” targeting Taiwanese government and financial units, Radware told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). Local tax bureaus in New Taipei City, Keelung, Hsinchu and Taoyuan were mentioned by the hackers. Only the Hsinchu Local Tax Bureau site appeared to be down earlier in the day, but was back
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