The annual Taiwan-US-Japan trilateral security dialogue is to open in Taipei today, bringing together former US White House chief of staff Reince Priebus and lawmakers from the three nations.
The dialogue is jointly organized by Taiwan’s Prospect Foundation, the US’ Heritage Foundation and Japan’s Sasakawa Peace Foundation at the behest of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and is to be held at the Grand Hyatt Taipei, the ministry said in a press release yesterday.
As per customary practices, the event will feature a one-hour trilateral parliamentary dialogue among incumbent and former Taiwanese, US and Japanese lawmakers, the ministry said.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) are to represent Taiwan.
The US side is represented by former Republican representative Tom Petri, while Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers Keisuke Suzuki and Rui Matsukawa would represent Japan, the ministry said.
Other highlights of the event will include a luncheon keynote speech by Priebus, which would not be open to the public and attendance would be by invitation only, and an opening address by Vice President Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁), the ministry said.
Priebus, who assumed the role as chief of staff to US President Donald Trump in January before being replaced by then-US secretary of homeland security John Kelly in July, is considered well-versed in Taiwan-US affairs.
In his capacity as chairman of the Republican National Committee, Priebus led delegations to Taiwan twice, in 2011 and 2015. The main purpose of Priebus’ visits were to attend the nation’s Double Ten National Day celebrations.
The ministry said this year’s event will revolve around two topics: common strategic interests in the Asia-Pacific region from the aspects of changing security dynamics and the strategic value of Taiwan, and unconventional security cooperation in the areas of cybersecurity, as well as humanitarian aid and disaster relief.
“We are hoping that through this dialogue between Taiwanese, US and Japanese lawmakers, and the exchange of opinions among academics, we could get a better grasp of the mainstream thinking in regional and international contexts and use it as a reference for the government’s future policymaking,” the ministry said.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
Yangmingshan National Park authorities yesterday urged visitors to respect public spaces and obey the law after a couple was caught on a camera livestream having sex at the park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) earlier in the day. The Shilin Police Precinct in Taipei said it has identified a suspect and his vehicle registration number, and would summon him for questioning. The case would be handled in accordance with public indecency charges, it added. The couple entered the park at about 11pm on Thursday and began fooling around by 1am yesterday, the police said, adding that the two were unaware of the park’s all-day live
RSS