The US takes no position on the issue of Taiwan’s sovereignty, the US Department of State said on Saturday, after Beijing accused US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo of “meddling in China’s internal affairs” over his comment that “Taiwan has not been a part of China.”
“The US has long had a ‘one China’ policy,” a department spokesperson said. “This is distinct from Beijing’s ‘one China’ principle, under which the Chinese Communist Party [CCP] asserts sovereignty over Taiwan. The United States takes no position on sovereignty over Taiwan.”
The spokesperson said the US’ “one China” policy remains guided by the US’ Taiwan Relations Act, the Three Joint Communiques between the US and China, and the “six assurances” to Taiwan, as it has been in the past fours decades.
“The fundamental US interest is that the Taiwan question be resolved peacefully, without coercion, and in a manner acceptable to the people on both sides of the [Taiwan] Strait — as Beijing promised,” the spokesperson said.
During a telephone interview with the Hugh Hewitt Show radio program aired on Thursday, Pompeo was asked if Washington’s commitments to Taiwan were bipartisan and if Beijing should realize that the commitments are bipartisan, while there is “crazy talk among most elements of the CCP that Taiwan ought to be retaken by force if necessary.”
Pompeo said “Taiwan has not been a part of China, and that was recognized with the work that the [former US president Ronald] Reagan administration did to lay out the policy that the United States has adhered to now for three-and-a-half decades and has done so under both administrations.”
“I actually think this is, in fact, bipartisan,” he added.
Asked for comments on Friday, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Wang Wenbin (汪文斌) said Pompeo was “meddling in China’s internal affairs,” while China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said Pompeo’s statement has betrayed Beijing’s “one China” principle and the Three Joint Communiques.
OFFLINE: People who do not wish to register can get the money from select ATMs using their bank card, ID number and National Health Insurance card number Online registration for NT$6,000 (US$196.32) cash payments drawn from last year’s tax surplus is to open today for eligible people whose national ID or permanent residency number ends in either a zero or a one, the Ministry of Finance said on Monday. Officials from the ministry revealed which days Taiwanese and eligible foreigners would be able to register for the cash payments at a joint news conference with the Ministry of Digital Affairs. Online registration is to open tomorrow for those whose number ends in a two or three; on Friday for those that end in a four or five: on Saturday
TECH PROGRAM: A US official said that an important part of the delegation’s trip would be to meet with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co executives The US is to send officials in charge of chip development to Taiwan, Japan and South Korea to promote cooperation in the global semiconductor supply chain, the US Department of Commerce said on Tuesday. Chips Program Office Director Michael Schmidt announced the visit, which marks the first time officials from the office are to visit the three nations since it was set up in September last year. “As semiconductors and technologies continue to evolve, the United States will keep working with allies and partners to develop coordinated strategies to ensure that malign actors cannot use the latest technologies to undermine our collective
Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) officials are investigating why a Starlux Airlines flight to Penang, Malaysia, returned to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport nearly two hours after takeoff yesterday morning. The airline said in a statement that Flight JX721 to Penang took off from Taoyuan airport at 9:20am. “After the dashboard showed a signal of an abnormality in the hydraulic system, the captain followed standard operating procedures and returned the flight to Taoyuan airport for safety precautions,” the airline said, adding that the flight landed safely at the airport at 11:04am. The airline arranged for the passengers to have lunch after the flight landed and
Seven senior faculty members, including the principal, of a high school in Taichung were temporarily suspended from their jobs on Friday, pending an investigation by the Taichung Education Bureau into alleged bullying and abuse that led to the suicide of a student last month. The city’s education officials were too slow to suspend those involved, the student’s father told a news conference on Wednesday, at which Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chang Liao Wan-chien (張廖萬堅) and members of the Humanistic Education Foundation were also present. The boy had been a good student and a high achiever during elementary and junior-high, and had
RSS