Several areas of Taiwan-US relations would require improvement after National Security Council member Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) takes over as representative to the US, an academic said yesterday, citing China’s continuous military intimidation of Taiwan.
Although the fundamentals of Taiwan-US relations appear to be in good shape, some areas still need “more delicate communication,” such as finding a solution to China’s continuous harassment of other countries in the region and its military intimidation of Taiwan, Taiwan Think Tank consultant Lai I-chung (賴怡忠) said.
The two sides should also discuss how their militaries can cooperate more closely and how Taiwan should respond to US expectations of national defense reform, Lai added.
Photo: Lu Yi-hsuan, Taipei Times
Hsiao, a former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator, has been appointed by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) as the nation’s de facto ambassador to the US, becoming the first woman to ever serve in the post.
However, the dates of her departure to the US and the beginning of her official duties have yet to be disclosed.
As the US is to hold its presidential election in November, Taiwan should strive to prevent any major shifts in bilateral relations in the event of a change in the US administration, Lai said.
DPP Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) said that the US Congress during the administration of US President Donald Trump has passed numerous acts friendly toward Taiwan, such as the Taiwan Travel Act and the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2020.
However, “closer ties between the two nations in recent years have been based on the passage of laws, lacking executable items that yield concrete results,” Wang said, adding that utilizing opportunities through the legislation is key to achieving breakthroughs in bilateral relations.
Taiwan-US relations could alter drastically in the near term in the face of multiple challenges and opportunities, such as economic problems caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the changing US-China relations, Hsiao said on Facebook on June 18, two days after her appointment.
Pressing matters that need to be handled include stalled progress on bilateral free-trade agreements and talks under the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement, observers have said.
Taiwan’s ban on imports of US pork containing ractopamine and some beef products should also be addressed via practical means, they said.
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened 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), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
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