The military procurement budget does not represent the entirety of Taiwan-US relations and the US values Taiwan’s strategic importance, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) said yesterday.
Cheng was responding to media questions about whether she is concerned that Washington would give her the cold shoulder on her upcoming visit to the US as opposition parties in the Legislative Yuan repeatedly block the Executive Yuan’s special defense budget.
Several US lawmakers last week expressed concern that stalling the budget would impact Taiwan’s procurement of US weapons and call into question Taiwan’s commitment to self-defense.
Photo: CNA
Cheng said she is not worried and not to overthink the situation, as some US lawmakers have expressed that Washington values Taiwan’s strategic importance.
Cheng said the problem lies with President William Lai (賴清德), who has never accepted the opposition’s majority in the Legislative Yuan.
She said that Lai has attempted to obstruct the legislature, calling him to be the “first president in history to be impeached by the legislature for contravening the Constitution.”
Cheng said she is looking forward to the upcoming trip to the US and that she is coordinating with the KMT’s US-based representatives to plan the itinerary.
When asked about KMT Deputy Chairman Hsiao Hsu-tsen’s (蕭旭岑) comments that the director of American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) is “only a little higher up than a section chief” in the US Department of State, Cheng said this merely reflects concern about whether information could be conveyed upwards and that she values every opportunity to communicate with the US.
In an interview on Friday last week, Hsiao belittled AIT Director Raymond Greene’s position in the US government while praising the high-ranking position of Chinese officials he met with on his recent trip to Beijing, including China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Director Song Tao (宋濤).
Hsiao’s comments have sparked concern that such “pro-China, anti-US” rhetoric could impact upcoming local elections this year.
Separately, KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said yesterday that the US is an important partner.
The KMT’s stance toward the US has not changed, supporting cooperation, communication and friendship when appropriate, he said.
“Politics should serve the economy and should focus on people’s livelihood rather than votes,” Lin said.
Hsiao’s comments were “metaphorical” and do not reflect a lack of respect for US representatives in Taiwan, Lin said, adding that the KMT treats the US with respect and courtesy.
Additional reporting by Lin-Hsin Han
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