The US would continue to fulfill its commitments to Taiwan’s self-defense needs and to the security of the Indo-Pacific region, US Department of Defense spokesman John Kirby said on Thursday.
The comments came after Chinese Ministry of National Defense spokesman Colonel Wu Qian (吳謙) defended Beijing’s increased military activity in the Taiwan Strait, saying that Taiwan “independence means war.”
Kirby said that Wu’s remarks were “unfortunate and certainly not commensurate with our intention to meet our obligations under the [US] Taiwan Relations Act.”
The US Department of Defense “sees no reason why tensions over Taiwan need to lead to anything like confrontation,” he said in response to media queries at a news conference.
On the broader issue of Taiwan, “nothing has changed” on the Pentagon’s commitments to the act and the Three Joint Communiques between the US and China, Kirby said, citing remarks made by US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin during his confirmation hearing.
“This is something that has been supported in a bipartisan way for decades and the Department of Defense under [Austin’s] leadership will continue that same support for its obligations to Taiwan’s self-defense,” he said.
Asked if the US was ready and able to defend Taiwan against a potential Chinese invasion, Kirby said the question was “hypothetical,” adding that the US military “remains ready in all respects to meet our security commitments in the region.”
The Taiwan Relations Act was promulgated in 1979 to maintain commercial, cultural and other unofficial relations between the US and Taiwan after Washington switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing.
The act also requires the US “to provide Taiwan with arms of a defensive character.”
The Three Joint Communiques are a collection of statements made by the US and Chinese governments from 1972 to 1982, in which the US “acknowledges” China’s position on Taiwan, among other things.
EXPANSIONIST: China deploys an average of 40 to 50 warships and coast guard vessels daily in the South China Sea, despite pledges not to militarize the region, an official said China is attempting to expand its influence across the First Island Chain and increase pressure on Japan by sending coast guard vessels into waters off of Taiwan under the pretext of maritime negotiations with Japan and the Philippines, a national security official said yesterday. China’s recent actions in the waters east of Taiwan and Japan and the Philippines’ exclusive economic zones (EEZ) are attempts to establish dominance in First Island Chain waters, said the official who declined to be named, adding that this is “expansion disguised as law enforcement.” Framing China’s actions solely as a cross-strait issue is a serious misjudgment that
Through analyzing fossil evidence, a research team at National Taiwan University (NTU) discovered the largest endemic bird to have lived in Taiwan, naming it Pavo miejue, or extinct peafowl (滅絕孔雀). The Mikado pheasant, which is printed on the back of the NT$1,000 bank note, was previously believed to be the biggest endemic bird to Taiwan. The research team’s findings suggest that Pavo miejue lived during the Pleistocene epoch tens of thousands of years ago. It is the first endemic extinct bird species discovered and formally named in Taiwan. The study was coauthored by NTU Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修),
Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport is to suspend its automated Skytrain service connecting Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 starting on July 1 to facilitate connection works for the upcoming Terminal 3, the airport operator said today. Passengers and staff who need to travel between the two terminals after the suspension can instead use the Taoyuan MRT or the airport's 24-hour shuttle bus service, Taoyuan International Airport Corp said. The Taoyuan MRT Airport Line directly links the two terminals, while the shuttle buses are to operate around the clock, the company added. The Skytrain provides free transportation between the airport’s two terminals for travelers and
Taiwan ranked 42nd in terms of peacefulness among 163 countries, down five places from last year, according to this year’s Global Peace Index. With an overall score of 1.751, Taiwan dropped from 37th last year, the report published by the global Institute for Economics and Peace showed. The overall score measures a country’s level of peacefulness using 23 quantitative and qualitative indicators across three domains — ongoing domestic and international conflict, societal safety and security, and militarization. While Taiwan ranked 42nd worldwide, it was listed in ninth place among the 19 Asian-Pacific countries in the report, after New Zealand, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia,
RSS