The US should officially recognize Taiwan as a free, independent nation and establish official diplomatic ties, former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo told an event at the Hudson Institute in Washington on Friday.
Every US president since Harry Truman has considered Taiwan’s existence to be of utmost importance to US national security, Pompeo said.
Taiwan is a principal US partner in technology and economic matters, and if China were to capture Taiwan’s semiconductor supply chain, it would severely hamper the US economy, Pompeo said.
Photo: Reuters
Should China occupy Taiwan, it would severely weaken US influence in the Indo-Pacific region and its surrounding areas, Pompeo said.
An occupation could be a breakthrough in controlling the first island chain and increase China’s influence throughout the region, including a force projection that could threaten Guam, Hawaii, Japan and Australia, Pompeo said.
The US must expand the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue — known as the Quad — between Australia, India, Japan and the US, and also include South Korea, the UK and France, Pompeo said,
The AUKUS security pact between Australia, the UK and the US should be incorporated into the Quad format, he added.
“It is my steadfast view that our government should immediately confer diplomatic recognition to Taiwan, for it is a free and sovereign country. Our recognition of Taiwan should not hinge on what will occur. Taiwan is already an independent country. Our government should simply reflect that fact,” Pompeo said.
The US must help build three “lighthouses for liberty,” Pompeo said, referring to Taiwan, Israel and Ukraine.
These countries could become security architecture hubs, linking alliances of free nations globally, including NATO and Indo-Pacific regional formats, he said.
Pompeo said Russian President Vladimir Putin is an “inhumane murderer” perpetrating acts of mass slaughter.
With Putin in power, no neighbor of Russia is safe, he added.
Pompeo decried the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a planned genocide, similar to the Holodomor, a famine orchestrated by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin that in 1932 and 1933 killed millions of Ukrainians.
If Russia were to consolidate domination over the eastern Ukrainian Donbas region and the country’s access to the Black Sea, Putin would next seek control of energy resources in other countries that were once part of the Soviet Union, Pompeo said.
“We must aid Ukraine, for to do so in part is our first duty to America and to Americans,” he said, adding that by empowering Ukraine, the US is demonstrating to China the cost of invading Taiwan.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
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