The Indiana House of Representatives on Thursday passed a resolution reaffirming its sister-state relationship with Taiwan, and supporting Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations.
The move follows a similar resolution passed by the Idaho House of Representatives on March 27, which declared support for Idaho’s partnership with Taiwan, US-Taiwan trade relations and Taiwan’s participation in international organizations.
Indiana’s resolution states that “Taiwan shares the same values of freedom, democracy, human rights, the rule of law, peace, and prosperity with the United States and the State of Indiana.”
Photo: Reuters
It also recognizes Taiwan’s diplomatic approach — described as “integrated diplomacy,” “values-based diplomacy,” and “allies diplomacy” — and acknowledges Taiwan’s willingness and capability to contribute to global efforts such as humanitarian aid and medical assistance.
The resolution also “supports Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations, and opposes any distortion or misuse of United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758 that may attempt to deny Taiwan’s aspirations to make more contributions in international societies.”
It also highlights Taiwan’s economic importance, noting that the US is Taiwan’s second-largest trading partner, while Taiwan ranks as the US’ eighth-largest. Trade and investment ties between the two sides support an estimated 360,400 well-paying jobs across the US.
The resolution also highlights the need to support Indiana businesses in deepening their economic ties with Taiwan under the Taiwan Relations Act, while affirming that Indiana businesses may legitimately refer to “Taiwan, ROC” simply as “Taiwan” in their commercial dealings.
Indiana was the first US state to establish a sister-state relationship with Taiwan, signing the agreement in November 1979. Since then, the two sides have maintained robust exchanges in trade, education, culture and tourism, the resolution said.
In 2022, Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb led a trade delegation to Taiwan, where he signed a memorandum of understanding to enhance bilateral cooperation in trade relations, and in 2023, Taiwanese chip design giant MediaTek Inc (聯發科) set up a research and development center in West Lafayette, Indiana, it said.
The resolution was introduced by Representative Ryan Lauer, cochair of the Indiana House Taiwan Friendship Caucus, and passed with bipartisan support from 51 lawmakers.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
The Taipei City Reserve Command yesterday initiated its first-ever 14-day recall of some of the city’s civilian service reservists, who are to undergo additional training on top of refresher courses. The command said that it rented sites in Neihu District (內湖), including the Taipei Tennis Center, for the duration of the camp to optimize tactical positioning and accommodate the size of the battalion of reservists. A battalion is made up of four companies of more than 200 reservists each, it said. Aside from shooting drills at a range in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), the remainder of the training would be at
RSS