Vice President William Lai (賴清德) has picked Representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) to be his running mate for January’s election, with an official announcement to be made on Monday, sources with direct knowledge said.
Hsiao, 52, who has been Taiwan’s de facto ambassador to the US since 2020, has been considered by party officials, diplomats and Taiwanese media for months to be the most likely running mate for Lai.
Now the decision has been made, a formal announcement is to come on Monday once Hsiao returns to Taiwan from the APEC summit in San Francisco, four sources briefed on the matter told Reuters.
Photo: Reuters
Well known in Washington, Hsiao could act as a key liaison for Taipei and Washington, one of the sources said.
“It’s a crucial role and she has the needed international experience,” the source said on condition of anonymity.
Vincent Chao (趙怡翔), spokesperson for the Lai campaign, yesterday declined to comment on Hsiao’s role, but said an announcement on a running mate would be made on Monday.
“This candidate will reinforce our commitment to the people of Taiwan and the international community that democracy, peace and prosperity will continue to be our guiding values,” he said.
Ivan Kanapathy, who regularly met with Hsiao when he was deputy senior director for Asia at the US National Security Council, said that Hsiao is a “tireless advocate” for Taiwan.
“If Ambassador Hsiao becomes vice president, her knowledge, experience and relationships would be invaluable for national security and foreign policy in the next Taiwanese administration,” said Kanapathy, an adjunct professor at Georgetown University.
Hsiao has been “very engaged on Taiwan’s defense reform efforts, which are drawing on lessons from Ukraine,” he said, pointing to examples such as initiatives for Taiwan to acquire more munitions, including Patriot missiles and drones.
Lai has during the past week talked up Hsiao in interviews with local media, without directly confirming he had picked her, calling her “very principled” and “thorough.”
Hsiao was born in Japan to a Taiwanese father and American mother, and initially worked in the office of then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and then as a Democratic Progressive Party lawmaker.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office on Wednesday referred to Lai and Hsiao as an “independence double act” and that Taiwanese are “very clear” about what both of them teaming up means for the “situation in the Taiwan Strait.”
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