China’s “provocative” actions around Taiwan, Japan and in the South China Sea run the risk of an accident that could unintentionally spark a broader conflict, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Sandra Oudkirk said in Taipei yesterday at her final news conference as head of the de facto US embassy.
Oudkirk told reporters that the US was “profoundly devoted” to the “status quo” of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and the broader region.
“And that is why we have consistently urged the PRC [People’s Republic of China] to avoid coercive or provocative actions both in the Taiwan Straits and in other areas like the South China Sea and off Japan,” she said. “Because provocative actions are almost by definition dangerous. They run the risk of a miscalculation or an accident that could spark a broader conflict.”
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
Oudkirk, who is to end her three-year posting next month, said that bolstering Taiwan’s ability to defend itself was the AIT’s top priority, although she declined to answer a question on how the militaries of Taiwan and the US work with each other.
Taiwan has said that arms orders it has placed with the US have faced delays.
“Just like all manufacturing, production of US arms and other military equipment were severely affected during the [COVID-19] pandemic by supply chain problems,” Oudkirk said. “Those are now unwinding.”
“We look forward to the delivery of military capabilities that Taiwan has purchased over the past several years and I would just say — continue to watch this space,” she added.
She said she had taken office in 2021 expecting to oversee efforts to implement the four goals reflecting long-term US policy: supporting Taiwan’s self-defense capabilities, increasing the resiliency of the global supply chain, maintaining and expanding Taiwan’s role in the international community, and deepening economic and civilian ties.
As Taiwan and the US jointly face growing challenges, the relationship will strengthen every day, she said.
Oudkirk, who first came to Taiwan in the 1990s, said that Taiwanese “should be proud” of the sweeping, positive changes over the past three decades, adding that it was a dream come true to serve as AIT director.
Oudkirk’s successor is Raymond Greene, currently deputy chief of mission at the US embassy in Tokyo and before that deputy head of the AIT.
Oudkirk described Greene as being “very familiar” with Taiwan.
Additional reporting by Yang Yao-ju
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and “capital punishment.” They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
The Shanlan Express (山嵐號), or “Mountain Mist Express,” is scheduled to launch on April 19 as part of the centennial celebration of the inauguration of the Taitung Line. The tourism express train was renovated from the Taiwan Railway Corp’s EMU500 commuter trains. It has four carriages and a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Lion Travel is arranging railway tours for the express service. Several news outlets were invited to experience the pilot tour on the new express train service, which is to operate between Hualien Railway Station and Chihshang (池上) Railway Station in Taitung County. It would also be the first tourism service
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
RSS