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.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
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