A bipartisan US congressional delegation arrived in Taiwan yesterday on a two-day visit that is to include meetings with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and other senior government officials, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
The delegation comprises Republican US representatives and Chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Ken Calvert, Tom Cole, Dave Joyce and Mike Garcia, as well as Democratic US Representative Ed Case, the ministry said in a news release.
Upon their arrival at Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport), the five representatives were welcomed by North American Affairs Department Director-General Douglas Hsu (徐佑典), it said.
Photo courtesy of Ministry of Foreign Affairs via CNA
During their visit, they are to meet with Tsai, National Security Council Secretary-General Wellington Koo (顧立雄) and Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) to discuss bolstering bilateral security cooperation, and economic and trade ties, it said.
The American Institute in Taiwan said the representatives are in Taiwan as part of a larger visit to the Indo-Pacific region.
In related news, former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien on Tuesday said that the only one who would “destroy” Taiwan is China.
O’Brien, who served in the administration of former US president Donald Trump from 2019 to 2021, made the comments in an interview with the Central News Agency when asked about a comment he made recently to the Soufan Center, a New York-based think tank.
News reports quoted him as saying that the US would destroy Taiwan’s semiconductor fabs if China were to invade the nation.
“The United States and its allies are never going to let those factories fall into Chinese hands,” the reports quoted him as saying.
On Tuesday O’Brian clarified his statement, saying that “anyone who says that the US is somehow going to destroy Taiwan or attack Taiwan — that’s propaganda and misinformation from the Chinese Communist Party [CCP].”
It would be difficult for China to take the nation without destroying its infrastructure and Taiwan’s talent would not be willing to work for the CCP, he said, adding that the US — like Taiwan — would work to prevent an invasion in the first place.
Asked about the speculated invasion date of 2027, O’Brien said it might be possible, as Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) would like to achieve unification with Taiwan within his lifetime.
Within one to three years, Xi could try to coerce Taiwan into a unification “that the people of Taiwan just don’t want,” he said.
“One of the great stories of my lifetime is Taiwan,” he said, highlighting its thriving democracy, rule of law and innovative people.
O’Brien complimented the administration of US President Joe Biden for continuing the Trump administration’s efforts to protect Taiwan, which he said was his top priority while in office.
To protect its democracy, Taiwan must become so bloated it would spoil China’s appetite, he said.
He approved of Taiwan’s extension of mandatory military service to one year and acquisition of weapons systems that would make an invasion difficult, saying that the moves send a strong message that Taiwan is willing to fight.
The US should prioritize military assistance to Taiwan as it has done for Ukraine, he said, urging the Biden administration to deliver arms purchased by Taiwan as soon as possible.
O’Brien also recommended that Taiwan and the US bolster trade ties, including by signing a free-trade agreement that would allow more Taiwanese and US firms to invest and manufacture in each others’ countries.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
STRIKE: Some travel agencies in Taiwan said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group tours to the country were proceeding as planned A planned strike by airport personnel in South Korea has not affected group tours to the country from Taiwan, travel agencies said yesterday. They added that they were closely monitoring the situation. Personnel at 15 airports, including Seoul’s Incheon and Gimpo airports, are to go on strike. They announced at a news conference on Tuesday that the strike would begin on Friday next week and continue until the Mid-Autumn Festival next month. Some travel agencies in Taiwan, including Cola Tour, Lion Travel, SET Tour and ezTravel, said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group
Taiwanese celebrities Hank Chen (陳漢典) and Lulu Huang (黃路梓茵) announced yesterday that they are planning to marry. Huang announced and posted photos of their engagement to her social media pages yesterday morning, joking that the pair were not just doing marketing for a new show, but “really getting married.” “We’ve decided to spend all of our future happy and hilarious moments together,” she wrote. The announcement, which was later confirmed by the talent agency they share, appeared to come as a surprise even to those around them, with veteran TV host Jacky Wu (吳宗憲) saying he was “totally taken aback” by the news. Huang,
RSS