Claims that President William Lai (賴清德) met with business leaders to help resolve tariff issues are false, Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said yesterday, adding that the government maintains close communication with the US and is steadily working toward bilateral economic cooperation.
The Chinese-language Mirror Media magazone reported that Lai had repeatedly invited top business leaders in Taiwan for secret talks since US President Donald Trump announced “reciprocal” tariffs in April.
Lai hoped that the businesses would form a group to invest in the US in a bid to win a reduced US tariff rate, the report said.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) rejected the plan and said “no official assistance from Taiwan is needed,” Mirror Media reported.
The situation described in the report is completely false, Kuo said, calling on the media to fact-check stories before they are published.
The government maintains close communications with the US in many fields, and continues to steadily promote bilateral industrial cooperation in economic and trade affairs, she said.
An AIT spokesperson yesterday told the Central News Agency that the report was “completely incorrect.”
The AIT is working closely with Taiwan’s government and private enterprises to promote bilateral trade and investment, the AIT spokesperson said.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
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The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
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