Three of four co-chairmen of the US Congressional Taiwan Caucus have urged Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman-elect Ma Ying-jeou (
The US lawmakers' request came in a letter to Ma congratulating him on his landslide July 16 election.
"We urge you, as the new chairman of the KMT, to lead efforts in Taipei to ensure that the Legislative Yuan quickly passes a special arms procurement package or increases its annual defense spending," the letter said.
"We believe as you do that cooperation between Taipei and Washington is paramount to Taiwan's security and is in the mutual interest of both nations," it said.
Three of the four caucus co-chairmen signed the letter. They were Republican Representative Steve Chabot and Democratic representatives Sherrod Brown and Robert Wexler. Not signing the letter was Republican Representative Dana Rohrabacher, one of the most ardent pro-Taiwan legislators in Washington.
The Formosan Association for Public Affairs, a pro-independence lobby group that released the letter, offered no explanation for Rohrabacher's failure to sign.
In the letter, the three co-chairmen invited Ma to Washington next month to "address members of the caucus and engage in a dialogue concerning US-Taiwan relations."
"Given the myriad of complex and difficult issues facing the United States and Taiwan in the coming years," the letter said, "we believe your visit would be a positive step towards enhancing this historic partnership."
The caucus leaders said they wanted to assure Ma that the US was "fully committed to the security, prosperity and future of the people of Taiwan."
They added that, "We know you value the long-standing relationship between the United States and Taiwan, a relationship that has grown stronger in recent years."
The letter is the latest in a string of efforts by Bush administration officials and congressmen to get Taipei to approve the arms package, which includes up to eight diesel-electric submarines, three PAC-III anti-missile batteries and 12 P-3C anti-submarine reconnaissance aircraft.
It also comes in the wake of the latest Pentagon report on China's military buildup, which identifies a rising threat toward Taiwan, and in the wake of growing feeling among military experts in Washington that China may already have gained the military equipment and expertise to launch a successful attack on Taiwan while parrying US efforts to intervene.
Earlier this year, 33 US legislators sent a letter to Lien urging him to cease blocking the special arms package. But Lien spurned that request.
also see story:
Ma says he is not against arms deal
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
SHIFT: Taiwan’s better-than-expected first-quarter GDP and signs of weakness in the US have driven global capital back to emerging markets, the central bank head said The central bank yesterday blamed market speculation for the steep rise in the local currency, and urged exporters and financial institutions to stay calm and stop panic sell-offs to avoid hurting their own profitability. The nation’s top monetary policymaker said that it would step in, if necessary, to maintain order and stability in the foreign exchange market. The remarks came as the NT dollar yesterday closed up NT$0.919 to NT$30.145 against the US dollar in Taipei trading, after rising as high as NT$29.59 in intraday trading. The local currency has surged 5.85 percent against the greenback over the past two sessions, central
RSS