Chinese threats and coercion increase the need for the US to help Taiwan maintain a credible self-defense, US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink said yesterday.
The US has a rock solid commitment to assist Taiwan, the top US diplomat for Asia said in Singapore.
“As the threat and coercion from the People’s Republic of China increases, I think we need to respond as well in an appropriate way,” Kritenbrink told reporters during a trip to Southeast Asia, citing support over self-defense and trade.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“We intend to live up to our obligations, our rock solid obligations and commitments,” he said.
In Washington, US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that the US is committed to upholding the freedom, security and human rights of the people of Taiwan.
In a letter sent to Legislative Speaker You Si-kun (游錫堃), Pelosi also wished Taiwan success in holding the two-day Open Parliament Forum in Taipei.
In the letter, which was addressed to You using his formal title of “president of the Legislative Yuan of the Republic of China (Taiwan),” Pelosi said that collaboration between governments on COVID-19 pandemic response and promotion of democratic parliaments were “essential as we strive to advance our shared values and interests.”
The “Open Parliament in a Post-COVID Context: Global Examples of Resilience and Planning for 2022 and Beyond” forum was organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Legislative Yuan and the National Democratic Institute, a Washington-headquartered nonprofit.
A tropical depression east of the Philippines became a tropical storm early yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, less than a week after a typhoon barreled across the nation. The agency issued an advisory at 3:30am stating that the 22nd tropical storm, named Yinxing, of the Pacific typhoon season formed at 2am. As of 8am, the storm was 1,730km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, with a 100km radius. It was moving west-northwest at 32kph, with maximum sustained winds of 83kph and gusts of up to 108kph. Based on its current path, the storm is not expected to hit Taiwan, CWA
Residents have called on the Taipei City Government to reconsider its plan to demolish a four-decades-old pedestrian overpass near Daan Forest Park. The 42-year-old concrete and steel structure that serves as an elevated walkway over the intersection of Heping and Xinsheng roads is to be closed on Tuesday in preparation for demolition slated for completion by the end of the month. However, in recent days some local residents have been protesting the planned destruction of the intersection overpass that is rendered more poetically as “sky bridge” in Chinese. “This bridge carries the community’s collective memory,” said a man surnamed Chuang
FATALITIES: The storm claimed at least two lives — a female passenger in a truck that was struck by a falling tree and a man who was hit by a utility pole Workers cleared fallen trees and shop owners swept up debris yesterday after one of the biggest typhoons to hit the nation in decades claimed at least two lives. Typhoon Kong-rey was packing winds of 184kph when it slammed into eastern Taiwan on Thursday, uprooting trees, triggering floods and landslides, and knocking out power as it swept across the nation. A 56-year-old female foreign national died from her injuries after the small truck she was in was struck by a falling tree on Provincial Highway 14A early on Thursday. The second death was reported at 8pm in Taipei on Thursday after a 48-year-old man
A tropical depression east of the Philippines became a tropical storm earlier today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The 22nd tropical storm, named Yinxing, in this year's Pacific typhoon season formed at 2am, the CWA said. As of 8am, the storm was 1,730km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) with a 100km radius, it said. It was moving west-northwest at 32kph, with maximum sustained winds of 83kph and gusts of up to 108kph. Based on its current path, the storm is not expected to hit Taiwan, CWA meteorologist Huang En-hung (黃恩宏) said. However, a more accurate forecast would be made on Wednesday, when Yinxing is