The recent meeting between President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has won approval in Washington, David Lee (李大維), Taiwan's representative to the US, said on Tuesday.
Washington was very interested in the Chen-Ma meeting said Lee, adding that US government officials were thoroughly scrutinizing an American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) report on the discussion.
Chen and Ma held a rare public meeting on Monday, highlighting their differences over relations with China and opposing views on a multibillion-dollar US arms procurement package.
Lee, responding to a question from the press after presenting soon-to-retire chairman of the US Congress House International Relations Committee Henry Hyde with the Order of the Brilliant Star with Grand Cordon on behalf of Chen, said that Washington was hoping to see more talks between the government and opposition parties over the next two years to facilitate the formation of consensus on economic and cross-strait issues.
He added that the issue of the scrapping of the National Unification Council (NUC) and unification guidelines was a thing of the past, and had not been brought up again by the US.
Concerning the meeting between Chinese leader Hu Jintao (
However, as China was likely to bring up the Taiwan issue during the talks, Taipei will be paying particular attention to how they develop.
Lee told reporters that he had yet to receive any directives from Taipei regarding making arrangements with US officials for Chen's planned trip to Central America in May.
Responding to comments made to the Chinese-language press by Assistant US Trade Representative for China Affairs Timothy Stratford that signing a Free Trade Agreement with Taiwan was not currently a US priority, Lee said that the preparations were an ongoing process, and not something that would necessarily bear fruit in the space of one or two years.
‘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