The US Department of State said yesterday that Washington's longstanding commitment to Taiwan remained unchanged, after US President Donald Trump signed the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act into law.
The law, signed by Trump on Tuesday, aims to ease limits on bilateral engagement and support Taiwan's participation in international organizations.
"This administration has been very clear that the enduring US commitment to Taiwan continues, as it has for over four decades," a department spokesperson told CNA, but did not say whether any of the US' self-imposed limits on its engagement with Taiwan would be lifted.
Photo: Reuters
Under longstanding US policy and the Taiwan Relations Act, Washington and Taipei enjoy a robust unofficial relationship built on shared values, substantial economic links and strong people-to-people connections, the spokesperson said.
"The robust unofficial ties between the United States and Taiwan are strengthened by routine, regular travel and interaction by US and Taiwan authorities, under the auspices of the American Institute in Taiwan and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States," the spokesperson added.
Also yesterday, Craig Singleton, senior director of the China Program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said that the most important aspect of the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act is that it requires the department to regularly review and justify the US' engagement guidelines with Taiwan.
Singleton was referring to the section that requires the department to review its guidance governing relations with Taiwan at least every five years, which is a change from the initial one-time-only requirement.
"That may sound procedural, but it matters," Singleton said.
The new requirement pushes officials to ask whether longstanding practices still serve US interests, rather than simply doing things "because we've always done it that way," he said.
Zack Cooper, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said he does not believe that China should have the right to veto US policies toward Taiwan.
"I think the White House has been quite clear that President Trump's focus is on keeping the US-China meetings on track for next April, November and possibly December," Cooper said.
Unless US-China relations deteriorate, Cooper said, he expects the US administration to steer clear of actions that could provoke Beijing.
However, He said that he doubts the Trump administration would ease restrictions on engagements between the US and Taiwan over the next year.
Patrick Cronin, Asia-Pacific security chair at the Hudson Institute, said the law gives the Trump administration the authority to strengthen ties with Taiwan if needed, and he expressed the view that China is likely to resist any efforts to expand such engagement.
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
The next minimum wage hike is expected to exceed NT$30,000, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday during an award ceremony honoring “model workers,” including migrant workers, at the Presidential Office ahead of Workers’ Day today. Lai said he wished to thank the awardees on behalf of the nation and extend his most sincere respect for their hard work, on which Taiwan’s prosperity has been built. Lai specifically thanked 10 migrant workers selected for the award, saying that although they left their home countries to further their own goals, their efforts have benefited Taiwan as well. The nation’s industrial sector and small businesses lay
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
RSS