The Presidential Office yesterday blasted a media report that said the US was displeased with President Chen Shui-bian's (
The draft of Chen's speech was allegedly rejected by Washington three times prior to its release, particularly in relation to constitutional amendments that Chen said would be completed before 2008, the United Daily News reported yesterday.
The report quoted unnamed sources as saying that Washington was displeased with Chen for delivering the address without changing parts of the draft it considered unsatisfactory.
The report said Washington returned the draft to the Presidential Office three times, each time asking for revisions.
But Chen proceeded with the speech because not enough time had been allowed for making changes, it said.
The report said the US was particularly displeased with Chen's talk of a new constitution, and was concerned this would alter his stance on the "five noes" in which he earlier promised not to change the status of the nation's sovereignty and territory during this term.
National Security Council Secretary-General Chiou I-jen (
"This is entirely groundless. I'm very sorry to read this kind of fabricated report, which will hurt not only the government but also bilateral relations with the US," Chiou said yesterday at a press conference.
Chiou said the New Year's address was a collaboration between key personnel from the Presidential Office and the National Security Council.
"We revised the draft several times. However, we passed the final draft to the US less than 30 hours before the speech was delivered," he said.
Chiou said the US was paying more attention to both the government's new "active management, effective opening" approach to cross-strait issues as well as the proposed referendum on a new constitution by 2007.
"We would like to stress that the drafting of the new constitution will be by the public [rather than the government]. As for cross-strait issues, we hope the US knows that China has clearly revealed its stance in rejecting Taiwan's government, at least before 2008," he said.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Michel Lu (呂慶龍) yesterday said communication between Taipei and Washington remains smooth and that Taipei will continue talking to the US to dispel concerns on a new constitution and Chen's cross-strait economic policy.
Lu also offered a clarification on behalf of the nation's envoy to the US, David Lee (
Rebutting local news reports from yesterday, Lu said the representative to the US did not use the word "protest" during his regular meeting with the press in Washington last week.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most
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