Former US undersecretary of state Keith Krach has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, in part for his work protecting freedoms for Taiwan and Uighurs.
“Mr Krach has ... spoken out — loudly and consistently — in support of Taiwan and its drive for independence,” the New Architecture Foundation said in its letter submitting the nomination.
In Washington, Krach served as the top official for economic growth, energy and the environment under former US president Donald Trump, and still serves as a senior adviser for the administration of US President Joe Biden.
Photo: Presidential Office via AP
He made headlines in 2020 when he became the highest-ranking US Department of State official to visit Taiwan since the nations severed diplomatic ties in 1979.
During the September visit, he attended a memorial service for former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), and spoke with officials and representatives from various sectors on bolstering economic and other partnerships.
Krach in May 2020 also brokered a US$12 billion plan for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) to build a 5-nanometer fab in Arizona, setting the stage for other chip producers to build their own “trusted” facilities in the US.
Photo: Reuters
Krach also played an instrumental role in leading the US to formally recognize Uighur internment camps as “state-sponsored genocide.”
The nominators highlighted Krach’s efforts to build the Clean Network, an alliance aiming to help democracies build secure network infrastructure in response to China’s ambitions to control 5G communications.
The alliance, launched in 2020, now boasts 60 nations comprising two-thirds of global GDP, as well as more than 200 telecoms.
It was formed on the basis of the “trust principle,” a “democratic and peaceful alternative to China’s power principle” that uses transparency, positive reinforcement and economic solidarity to achieve success, the nominators said.
“Peaceful partnership, not fear mongering. That is the stark choice that Keith Krach has enabled through his years-long campaign and mission to unify the world around a common, peaceful technology accord, formally recognized today as the Clean Network alliance,” the letter said.
Taiwan counts itself among the network’s ranks, creating the opportunity to recognize its sovereignty, it added.
“Keith Krach’s attendant efforts regarding human rights abuses by China and Taiwan’s quest for independence are, in many ways, just different colors in the same noble cause that Mr Krach pursues as a life purpose,” the nominators said. “The world truly is a better and safer place because of his courage and efforts.”
Taiwan from Thursday is to reinstate visa exemptions for passport holders from 65 countries. Mandatory quarantine for arriving travelers is to be lifted on Oct. 13 , when restrictions on inbound and outbound tour groups are also to be lifted. The following is a list of answers to common questions regarding how the new regulations are to affect inbound international visitors Which passports will have visa-free entry privileges? Eleven more countries on Thursday are to join 54 countries that were given visa-free privileges on Sept. 12. Passport holders from Japan, South Korea, Chile, Israel and Nicaragua can stay in Taiwan for up to 90 days without a visa. Taiwan is also to resume 30-day visa-free stays for citizens of the Dominican Republic, Singapore and Malaysia. Passport holders from Thailand, Brunei and the Philippines are to be allowed to stay in Taiwan for 14 days visa-free. Taiwan on Sept. 12 resumed 90-day visa-free entry for passport holders from the US, the UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New
HAWAII MODEL: While Hawaii held a referendum on becoming the 50th US state, Taiwan has never applied to join the People’s Republic of China, Miles Yu said China comparing Taiwanese independence to Hawaii seeking independence from the US is illogical, as Taiwan has never applied to be a part of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Hudson Institute senior fellow Miles Yu (余茂春) said over the weekend. Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅), who is in New York for the UN General Assembly, has given multiple talks asserting Chinese sovereignty over Taiwan. In a speech to the Asia Society on Thursday, Wang likened Taiwan to Hawaii. “Just as the US would not allow Hawaii to break away,” Beijing “reserves the right” to seek unification, Wang told the gathering. The
PRIDE AND FURY: Supporters of the Taiwan People’s Communist Party sang in Tainan, while Taiwan loyalists in Kaohsiung vowed to ‘protect Taiwan until death’ Two small Taiwanese groups at the far ends of the debate over relations with Beijing marked the National Day of the People’s Republic of China yesterday with flag raisings and flag burnings — opposite responses at a time of rising tension over the Taiwan Strait. Oct. 1 marks the day that Mao Zedong (毛澤東) proclaimed the People’s Republic of China in 1949, with the defeated Republic of China government fleeing to Taiwan at the end of that year, where — after democratic reforms — it remains to this day, neither recognizing the other. China’s national day is not officially marked in any
Tensions over Taiwan have raised the thorny issue of whether US troops based in South Korea would be involved in any conflict, with US and South Korean officials acknowledging that the peninsula could easily be dragged into a crisis. South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol told CNN in an interview aired on Sunday that his country was keen to work with the US to “expand freedom,” but that in a conflict over Taiwan, North Korea would be more likely to stage a provocation and that the alliance should focus on that first. North Korea has a mutual defense treaty with China, and military
RSS