The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) yesterday congratulated Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) on being named Taiwan’s first female representative to the US, highlighting her record of advancing bilateral partnerships in security, economic and democratic issues.
The appointment was announced by the Presidential Office on Tuesday night, confirming media reports about Hsiao’s promotion from a National Security Council adviser.
The US is the most important global partner of Taiwan, and President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) expects Hsiao to further strengthen bilateral ties, and create more opportunities to ensure prosperity and stability in the nation and the region, Presidential Office spokesman Xavier Chang (張惇涵) said on Tuesday.
Photo: Lu Yi-hsuan, Taipei Times
“Ms Hsiao has a strong record of advancing US-Taiwan relations and will be the first woman to hold this critical role,” the AIT said in a news release, commending Tsai’s appointment and expressing confidence about the future of bilateral friendship.
“During her tenure in the Legislative Yuan, Ms Hsiao worked successfully with her bipartisan colleagues and with AIT to make progress on many aspects of the US-Taiwan partnership, including our security cooperation, economic and commercial ties, and joint efforts to share Taiwan’s democratic success story with the world,” it said.
Hsiao, 48, served four terms as a legislator, from 2012 to January this year, as well as chairperson of the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats from 2018 to present, among other positions in global organizations.
After she was defeated by then-independent Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁) in the Jan. 11 elections for a legislative seat in Hualien County, Hsiao was appointed an adviser to the National Security Council.
Born in Japan and raised in Taiwan, Hsiao was the child of a Taiwanese father and an American mother. She holds a master’s degree in political science from Columbia University.
There is no better candidate for the position than Hsiao, who will become the first DPP member appointed as representative to the US, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) said on Facebook yesterday.
Hsiao’s appointment would be positive for Taiwan-US relations, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Charles Chen (陳以信), a former presidential office spokesman, said on Facebook.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday declined to answer questions on when Hsiao would formally assume office and what would be the next move of Representative to the US Stanley Kao (高碩泰).
Additional reporting by CNA
Taiwanese can file complaints with the Tourism Administration to report travel agencies if their activities caused termination of a person’s citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday, after a podcaster highlighted a case in which a person’s citizenship was canceled for receiving a single-use Chinese passport to enter Russia. The council is aware of incidents in which people who signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of Russia were told they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, Chiu told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Taipei. However, the travel agencies actually applied
New measures aimed at making Taiwan more attractive to foreign professionals came into effect this month, the National Development Council said yesterday. Among the changes, international students at Taiwanese universities would be able to work in Taiwan without a work permit in the two years after they graduate, explainer materials provided by the council said. In addition, foreign nationals who graduated from one of the world’s top 200 universities within the past five years can also apply for a two-year open work permit. Previously, those graduates would have needed to apply for a work permit using point-based criteria or have a Taiwanese company
The Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted two Taiwanese and issued a wanted notice for Pete Liu (劉作虎), founder of Shenzhen-based smartphone manufacturer OnePlus Technology Co (萬普拉斯科技), for allegedly contravening 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) by poaching 70 engineers in Taiwan. Liu allegedly traveled to Taiwan at the end of 2014 and met with a Taiwanese man surnamed Lin (林) to discuss establishing a mobile software research and development (R&D) team in Taiwan, prosecutors said. Without approval from the government, Lin, following Liu’s instructions, recruited more than 70 software
BACK TO WINTER: A strong continental cold air mass would move south on Tuesday next week, bringing colder temperatures to northern and central Taiwan A tropical depression east of the Philippines could soon be upgraded to be the first tropical storm of this year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, adding that the next cold air mass is forecast to arrive on Monday next week. CWA forecaster Cheng Jie-ren (鄭傑仁) said the first tropical depression of this year is over waters east of the Philippines, about 1,867km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), and could strengthen into Tropical Storm Nokaen by early today. The system is moving slowly from northwest to north, and is expected to remain east of the Philippines with little chance of affecting Taiwan,
RSS