The Bush administration has dismissed as moot talk that Washington might seek the dispatch of Taiwanese marines to Iraq, saying that Taiwan has not made such an offer nor has the US asked for it.
"I would point out that Taiwan has not offered the dispatch of troops and we're not seeking such a contribution," Department of State spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters on Monday.
"It's really a moot point," he said.
Boucher made the comments in response to questions at his regular daily news briefing.
In his response, he praised Taiwan's contribution to humanitarian aid to Iraq, saying, "We do value the contributions that Taiwan is making."
Boucher noted that Taiwan contributed US$4.4 million in humanitarian assistance to Iraq after major combat ended last year, including medicines, blankets and food, and computers to the new Iraqi education ministry.
"We thank Taiwan for their contributions," he said.
Boucher was answering questions stemming from a resolution introduced in the House of Representatives last week by two congressmen, asking President George W. Bush to request that President Chen Shui-bian (
The resolution, sponsored by two Republicans, Representative Dana Rohrabacher, a co-chairman of the Taiwan Congressional Caucus, and Representative Jim Ryun, is one of thousands of bills introduced in Congress every year, only few of which survive the legislative process.
An aide to Rohrabacher told the Taipei Times on Monday that the idea for the resolution came from a May 16 Los Angeles Times story that quoted DPP Legislator Parris Chang (
The resolution picked up on that idea, and that wording, in its justification for seeking other congressmen to support and vote for the resolution.
Congressional lobbying group the Formosan Association for Public Affairs said in a news release that the idea was first brought up in an April 27 article by William Triplett, a former Senate Foreign Relations Committee aide and prominent conservative political thinker, that explored the possibility of Taiwan's sending troops to Iraq.
"We sort of kicked the idea around and said, `the troops should be there.' They're a democracy and they're a part of the world community," and should be asked to participate, the Rohrabacher aide said.
"This might get Taiwan off the dime," he said. "They were considering it and this could help them along in the process."
A legislative aide to Ryun, Jim Richardson, said the idea "was to put Congress on record, to let the administration know and hopefully they'll support the idea that there is a need in Iraq for additional troops. The United States has asked every other society in the world to contribute and it must make sense to ask Taiwan to contribute troops as well."
The Presidential Office has denied that was considering sending troops to Iraq.
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
RSS