Future US-Taiwan relations would be “conditioned in significant measure” by the way Taipei adopts constructive and effective approaches to cross-strait relations, a former senior US Department of State official said.
“Given the potential impact of developments in cross-strait ties on US national interests, no one should doubt that this is an issue to which Washington will attach great importance,” Stimson Center East Asia program director Alan Romberg said.
In a long academic paper published this week by the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, Romberg said that during her Washington visit earlier this month, Democratic Progressive Party Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) had avoided language that would “trigger rejection” from Beijing.
“Most observers believe that unless something catastrophic derails Tsai’s campaign, even strong PRC [People’s Republic of China] statements about the negative consequences of Tsai’s failure to embrace a ‘one China’ position may not be enough to upset what seems like an inevitable DPP victory,” Romberg said.
He said that unlike the impression many people had during the 2012 Taiwan presidential election, the US is taking a studiously neutral position on next year’s contest.
Romberg, who served 27 years in the State Department, said Washington would focus on the need for both China and Taiwan to adopt policies characterized by restraint and flexibility to carry on constructive cross-strait dialogue and maintain the “current low level of tension.”
“Those in the mainland who distrust Tsai Ing-wen and would have the US oppose the DPP or instruct the DPP what policies to adopt will be disappointed,” he said.
Romberg said that Beijing harbored “deep suspicions” about Tsai’s ambitions regarding Taiwan independence.
He said Beijing says that she will say one thing during the campaign and move in a different direction once elected.
“Given the nuances evident in Beijing’s statements, as well as the urgency and severity of the myriad of other challenges facing the PRC leadership, one should remain alert to the possibility that the Mainland might limit its reaction if Tsai continues to adopt positions that, while perhaps ambiguous, could be interpreted as not inconsistent with one China,” Romberg said.
POLAM KOPITIAM CASE: Of the two people still in hospital, one has undergone a liver transplant and is improving, while the other is being evaluated for a liver transplant A fourth person has died from bongkrek acid poisoning linked to the Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said yesterday, as two other people remain seriously ill in hospital. The first death was reported on March 24. The man had been 39 years old and had eaten at the restaurant on March 22. As more cases of suspected food poisoning involving people who had eaten at the restaurant were reported by hospitals on March 26, the ministry and the Taipei Department of Health launched an investigation. The Food and
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition