Three US representatives have called on US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to meet with President William Lai (賴清德) during his US stopovers as he travels to and from Paraguay next month.
Paraguayan President Santiago Pena on July 14 said that his country is preparing to welcome Lai next month.
Lai might stop over in New York and Dallas, Texas, during state visits next month to Taiwan’s allies in Central and South America, including Paraguay, Guatemala and Belize, Taiwanese news media reported.
Photo: Reuters
US representatives Tom Tiffany, Chris Smith and Andy Ogles on Thursday sent a letter to Rubio regarding Lai’s US stopovers, encouraging him or another Cabinet-level official to consider meeting with Lai.
They cited US Congress legislation in 2018 — which Rubio sponsored as a senator — that encouraged meetings between senior US officials and their Taiwanese counterparts, and said that Lai’s US transits could be a key opportunity to use that law.
“A high-level meeting with President Lai would also underscore the importance America affixes to the US-Taiwan friendship, help Taiwan cement its remaining diplomatic relationships in our hemisphere,” they said.
It would also “send a clear message that Beijing’s outrageous meddling in American foreign policy is both unwelcome and unacceptable,” they said.
During US President Donald Trump’s first term as president, the US Department of State repealed several self-imposed bureaucratic obstacles to engagement between Taiwanese officials and US executive branch personnel, they said.
However, the “guidelines” were reimposed during the early days of former US president Joe Biden’s administration, including restricting their interaction with news media and conducting public engagements, they said, adding that they hope Rubio would refrain from imposing such conditions during Lai’s upcoming visit.
“The world has undergone dramatic changes since the era of [former US presidents] Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter. Taiwan has become a vibrant, multi-party democracy, while Communist China has become more oppressive, more belligerent and more dangerous,” they said. “Yet America’s policy framework remains frozen in time — a hopelessly antiquated relic of the 1970s.”
A personal meeting with Lai would make it clear that “this era is finally over,” they added.
A statement from Smith’s office on Friday also said that Smith, as cochairman of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), has repeatedly underscored the important role Taiwan plays in countering Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Taiwan, as a frontline state, is absorbing much of the CCP’s belligerent attention, Smith said at a CECC hearing about standing with Taipei in countering Beijing’s political warfare and transnational repression.
“Taiwan’s security is America’s security,” as the campaigns waged against Taiwan are also being used against the US, he said.
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
An SOS message in a bottle has been found in Ireland that is believed to have come from the Taiwanese captain of fishing vessel Yong Yu Sing No. 18 (永裕興18號), who has been missing without a trace for over four years, along with nine Indonesian crew members. The vessel, registered to Suao (蘇澳), went missing near Hawaii on Dec. 30, 2020. The ship has since been recovered, but the 10 crew members have never been found. The captain, surnamed Lee (李), is believed to have signed the note with his name. A post appeared on Reddit on Tuesday after a man
Instead of threatening tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, the US should try to reinforce cooperation with Taiwan on semiconductor development to take on challenges from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), a Taiwanese think tank said. The administration of US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose across-the-board import duties of 32 percent on Taiwan-made goods and levy a separate tariff on semiconductors, which Taiwan is hoping to avoid. The Research Institute for Democracy, Society, and Emerging Technology (DSET), a National Science and Technology Council think tank, said that US efforts should focus on containing China’s semiconductor rise rather than impairing Taiwan. “Without
RSS