The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would maintain its relationship with the US regardless of which candidate wins its presidential election, KMT Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) said yesterday.
Chiang made the remark at a weekly KMT Central Standing Committee meeting in Taipei as the world awaited the results of the race between US President Donald Trump and former US vice president Joe Biden.
There was no clear winner at the time.
Photo: CNA
Taiwanese are paying close attention to the US election, because no matter which party wins control of the White House, the US Senate and the House of Representatives, it is “closely related” to global affairs, including in the Republic of China (ROC) and in East Asia, Chiang said.
The ROC was a US ally during World War II, and although it has not had diplomatic relations with Washington for decades, ties would not undergo any fundamental changes in the foreseeable future as a result of who wins the election, he said.
The two nations’ common pursuit of democracy, freedom and human rights could not be clearer, he said.
No matter which party wins, the KMT would continue to maintain relations with the ruling and opposition parties based on these important values, as that would have an important effect on Taiwan’s development and future, he said.
“I want to once again reiterate that the Republic of China must continue to strive for cross-party understanding and support from the US,” Chiang said, adding that betting on a single US party would be “short-sighted.”
All political parties have a responsibility to urge the US to implement the many “Taiwan friendly” acts that have been passed by the US Congress in the past few years, he said, while also calling for discussions over taxation, free-trade and investment agreements.
Earlier, Chiang urged KMT officials and supporters to gather on Ketagalan Boulevard on Nov. 22 to protest the government’s decision to allow US imports of pork containing traces of ractopamine from Jan. 1.
Defending food safety and deepening exchanges with friendly nations are not mutually exclusive, he said, adding that the friendship between the ROC and the US is based on a consensus on democratic values, and on exchanges with reciprocity as a precondition.
Meanwhile, at a weekly meeting of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said that the party would continue to seek deeper ties with the US regardless of the outcome of its elections.
The DPP has had exchanges with the Republican and Democratic parties, and Taiwan-US ties are not restricted to a specific political party, she said.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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