President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is to receive a leadership award from the Hudson Institute, where she is scheduled to give a speech when she makes a stopover in the US next month, the Financial Times reported.
Tsai is to receive the institute’s annual Global Leadership Award and speak at an event sponsored by the Washington-based think tank on March 30, the newspaper cited people familiar with the matter as saying.
Tsai would join a list of past Hudson Institute award honorees that includes media mogul Rupert Murdoch, former US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger, former US president Ronald Reagan and former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe.
Photo copied by Chen Kuan-pei, Taipei Times
The newspaper on Monday reported that Tsai would visit California and New York early next month on the way to visit Taiwan’s diplomatic allies Guatemala and Belize.
She is to meet US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California and deliver a speech at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, it added.
McCarthy on Tuesday confirmed his plans to meet with Tsai.
The Chinese embassy in Washington objected to Tsai’s plan to meet with McCarthy, saying that Beijing “firmly rejects all forms of official interactions between the US and Taiwan,” the Financial Times reported.
Tsai’s visit and her speeches might “trigger a harsh response from Beijing,” it said, citing rising US-China tensions in the wake of an alleged Chinese spy balloon flying over North America last month.
Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Qin Gang (秦剛), who previously served as ambassador to Washington, on Tuesday warned about possible “conflict and confrontation” between China and the US, as the US’ China policy had “entirely deviated” from the right track.
Separately, Czech President Petr Pavel was sworn in on Thursday, replacing Milos Zeman, who pushed for closer relations with China and Russia during his two five-year terms in office.
Pavel, who sees China and Russia as security threats, had a telephone conversation with Tsai two days after winning the election.
He told Tsai that Taiwan is a trustworthy partner, and that the Czech Republic would support the nation in safeguarding its democratic system.
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
RSS