After three visits to the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) headquarters in Washington, Taiwan People’s Party Chairman (TPP) Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) on Friday said that “at this stage, Taiwan is very important to the US.”
Ko visited Representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) for a 30-minute closed-door meeting at the Twin Oaks estate in Washington on Friday, with sources saying that they discussed how to expand Taiwan’s diplomatic space using its economic and cultural strengths.
Ko also thanked the consular staff for their hard work, the sources said.
Photo: CNA
After the meeting, Ko told reporters that he had met with everyone he needed to meet in the US, and that the US takes Taiwan very seriously.
As the US-China conflict has escalated, Taiwan has become more important to the US, he said, adding that Hsiao agreed.
It is now easier to meet with US representatives and senators, he said.
Ko, who announced his intention to run as the TPP’s candidate in next year’s presidential election, said his itinerary was mainly arranged by the AIT, so he met with whoever they wanted him to meet and he visited the AIT headquarters three times.
“I met with everyone I needed to meet, and there was sufficient communication between everyone,” he said, adding that if he had been visiting as a mayor, he would have gone to the US Department of State or the US Department of Defense, but visiting as a presidential candidate meant the meetings were held in the AIT headquarters.
Ko said he does not deserve all the credit for the meetings, as they were a result of Taiwan becoming more important to the US.
As the US believes China to be its biggest threat, “it arranged its highest-ranking official in the region to handle the issue,” he said.
When asked whether the US government has more trust in him or Vice President William Lai (賴清德), who the Democratic Progressive Party has named as its presidential candidate, Ko said that the US-Taiwan relationship would remain the same regardless of who the next president is, but their attitude toward China could be different.
Asked whether the US government accepts his stance on cross-strait relations, Ko said that although the US and China are competing, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said the US’ relationship with China would be “competitive when it should be, collaborative when it can be, adversarial when it must be.”
“If the US takes such a strategy toward China, then Taiwan should also take the same strategy, and not be adversarial when collaboration is possible,” he said, adding that the US government is not against Taiwan communicating with China.
Foreigners see Taiwan as a divided country, he said, adding that he received advice from a high-ranking Singaporean official who said that a country must first reach an internal consensus to be capable of handling foreign affairs.
The German city of Hamburg on Oct. 14 named a bridge “Kaohsiung-Brucke” after the Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung. The footbridge, formerly known as F566, is to the east of the Speicherstadt, the world’s largest warehouse district, and connects the Dar-es-Salaam-Platz to the Brooktorpromenade near the Port of Hamburg on the Elbe River. Timo Fischer, a Free Democratic Party member of the Hamburg-Mitte District Assembly, in May last year proposed the name change with support from members of the Social Democratic Party and the Christian Democratic Union. Kaohsiung and Hamburg in 1999 inked a sister city agreement, but despite more than a quarter-century of
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday expressed “grave concerns” after Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) reiterated the city-state’s opposition to “Taiwanese independence” during a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang (李強). In Singapore on Saturday, Wong and Li discussed cross-strait developments, the Singaporean Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. “Prime Minister Wong reiterated that Singapore has a clear and consistent ‘one China’ policy and is opposed to Taiwan independence,” it said. MOFA responded that it is an objective fact and a common understanding shared by many that the Republic of China (ROC) is an independent, sovereign nation, with world-leading
Temperatures in northern Taiwan are forecast to reach as high as 30°C today, as an ongoing northeasterly seasonal wind system weakens, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said yesterday that with the seasonal wind system weakening, warmer easterly winds would boost the temperature today. Daytime temperatures in northern Taiwan and Yilan County are expected to range from 28°C to 30°C today, up about 3°C from yesterday, Tseng said. According to the CWA, temperature highs in central and southern Taiwan could stay stable. However, the weather is expected to turn cooler starting tonight as the northeasterly wind system strengthens again
The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau (MJIB) has been investigating nine shell companies working with Prince Holding Group, and the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office is seeking further prosecution of alleged criminals, a source said yesterday. The nine companies and three Taiwanese nationals were named by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Oct. 14 as Specially Designated Nationals as a result of a US federal court indictment. Prince Holding founder Chen Zhi (陳志) has been charged with fraud, conspiracy, money laundering and overseeing Prince Holding’s suspected forced-labor camps in Cambodia, the indictment says. Intelligence shared between Taiwan,
RSS