President Chen Shui-bian (
National Security Council Secretary-General Chiou I-ren (
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday confirmed that two former high-ranking US officials will arrive in Taipei next month, but denied that their visit has anything to do with the recent controversy over Chen's proposal.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Michel Lu (呂慶龍) said yesterday that former US deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage and former deputy assistant secretary of State Randy Schriver will be in Taipei at the beginning of next month at the invitation of the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy.
Lu said that the pair's visit has nothing to do with Chen's proposal to scrap the unification council and guidelines because the trip was arranged a long time ago.
Lu made the remark in response to a media report quoting the Washington-based Nelson Report, which said that Armitage and Schriver will soon visit Taipei in a bid to explain to Chen the possible consequences if he does away with the council and guidelines.
Lu refused to confirm when Armitage and Schriver will arrive, saying that the details are still being arranged. Nor did he give any details about how long they will stay and whether they will meet with Chen or visit the National Security Council.
According to media reports, US National Security Council Asia specialist Dennis Wilder and the State Department's chief Taiwan staffer, Clifford Hart, traveled to Taipei earlier this month for meetings with Chen to try and convince him to drop plans to eliminate the unification council and guidelines.
The US State Department, however, has yet to fully confirm the trips.
Such trips have taken place in the past at times of particular strain in US-Taiwan relations. When Chen proposed holding a referendum in tandem with the 2004 presidential election, the US government sent Michael Green, then senior director for East Asian affairs of the US National Security Council, to Taipei in November 2003.
On the first day of the Lunar New Year, Chen said that the time is ripe to seriously consider whether to abolish the unification council and guidelines. He has said that he would like to see the security council come up with a report on the political and legal repercussions of the plan by the end of the month.
Meanwhile, the foreign ministry yesterday dismissed speculation that Taiwan's representative to Washington David Lee (李大維) is considering resigning due to the stress caused by the proposal to do away with the NUC and guidelines.
Calling the media's speculation "unethical," Lu quoted Lee as saying that "How can the commander-in-chief leave the battle field when the battle is still raging?"
‘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
STILL COMMITTED: The US opposes any forced change to the ‘status quo’ in the Strait, but also does not seek conflict, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said US President Donald Trump’s administration released US$5.3 billion in previously frozen foreign aid, including US$870 million in security exemptions for programs in Taiwan, a list of exemptions reviewed by Reuters showed. Trump ordered a 90-day pause on foreign aid shortly after taking office on Jan. 20, halting funding for everything from programs that fight starvation and deadly diseases to providing shelters for millions of displaced people across the globe. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has said that all foreign assistance must align with Trump’s “America First” priorities, issued waivers late last month on military aid to Israel and Egypt, the
RSS