Former National Security Council (NSC) secretary-general Ting Mao-shih (丁懋時), who played a crucial role during the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis in 1996, passed away on Tuesday at the age of 99, an unnamed diplomatic source told the Central News Agency.
Ting died at Cheng Hsin General Hospital in Taipei, the source said on condition of anonymity, as he was not authorized to talk publicly about Ting’s death.
Born on Oct. 10, 1925, in China’s Binchuan County, Yunnan Province, Ting served as Taiwan’s top diplomat from 1987 to 1988 and later as representative to the US. His previous overseas posts also included being a top envoy to South Korea, Rwanda and Zaire.
Photo: CNA
In May 1996, while serving as NSC secretary-general under then-president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), Ting traveled to New York to engage in high-level talks with then-US deputy national security adviser James Steinberg amid the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis.
The crisis refers to a series of missile tests China conducted in waters surrounding Taiwan in July 1995 following Lee’s visit to the US and in 1996, ahead of Taiwan’s first direct presidential election, to warn Lee against attempts to build closer ties with the US and to pressure Taiwanese not to elect him.
The meeting was the first between high-level US and Taiwan security officials since official relations were severed in 1979. It established a platform for meetings between Washington’s and Taipei’s national security agencies despite the lack of official diplomatic relations.
Ting also met then-Japanese chief Cabinet secretary Seiroku Kajiyama in May 1996 to discuss the cross-strait situation and share intelligence, marking the first time a top Taiwanese national security official visited Japan since both sides cut diplomatic ties in 1972.
The US later sent the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier strike group through the Taiwan Strait, which was then the biggest US military armada in Asia since the end of the Vietnam War. That strong showing of support for Taiwan reportedly forced China to end its military exercises in the Taiwan Strait.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
TRADE-OFF: Beijing seeks to trade a bowl of tempura for a Chinese delicacy, an official said, while another said its promises were attempts to interfere in the polls The government must carefully consider the national security implications of building a bridge connecting Kinmen County and Xiamen, China, the Public Construction Commission (PCC) said yesterday. PCC Commissioner Derek Chen (陳金德), who is also a minister without portfolio, made the remarks in a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, after Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hsu Fu-kuei (徐富癸) asked about China’s proposal of new infrastructure projects to further connect Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties with Xiamen. China unveiled the bridge plan, along with nine other policies for Taiwan, on Sunday, the last day of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun’s (鄭麗文) visit
RSS