Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) late yesterday afternoon departed for Washington, where he said he is scheduled to meet with US government officials to discuss arms procurement and tariffs.
The party hopes to obtain direct, first-hand and reliable information from the US side on arms purchases, particularly a proposed NT$1.25 trillion (US$36.56 billion) special defense budget proposed by the Executive Yuan, Huang said, adding that the Democratic Progressive Party government has not provided the details the legislature needs to consider the funding.
“Aside from receiving two A4 pages and seeing seven articles, the amount of information we have been able to obtain is so little it is hard to even describe,” he said.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
Regarding US tariffs, the Executive Yuan has repeatedly said it was its highest priority in April last year, and it in August said the US’ 20 percent tariff on Taiwanese goods stacking on top of existing levies was “only temporary,” but now it is 2026, and no further information is available, he said.
The trip came as a surprise to many, as it was not announced until the TPP briefed the press on it earlier yesterday afternoon.
Huang said, however, that the visit had been arranged for “quite some time” after discussions with the US side.
Asked whether the visit was made at the invitation of Washington or initiated by the TPP, Huang did not answer directly but said the party had conveyed its concerns to the US side on a range of issues and had expressed a desire for “direct, face-to-face communication.”
Huang is slated to return on Wednesday.
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