US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton affirmed on Monday that there would be no change in Washington’s policy on arms sales to Taiwan under the administration of US President Barack Obama.
Clinton, who departed on Sunday for a four-nation Asia visit — her first overseas trip since assuming office — made the remarks in an interview during her flight to Japan, her first stop.
Clinton said US policy with respect to Taiwan “remains as it has been” because it is based on Washington’s long-standing “one China” policy, the three communiques with China and the Taiwan Relations Act.
“And under the Taiwan Relations Act, there is a clear provision that the United States will provide support for Taiwan’s defense. And that is why there have been, over the many years, the sale of defensive materials to Taiwan,” she said.
Clinton said she was pleased with the decreased tensions and increasing cooperation between Taiwan and China over the past months, which she said is a direction that the US wants to support and promote.
The US has long been Taiwan’s most important weapons supplier, despite this being an irritant in US-China relations.
In the latest arms deal between the two sides, the administration of former US president George W. Bush late last year approved the sale of a package of weapons to Taiwan including 30 Apache attack helicopters, 330 advanced capability Patriot (PAC-3) missiles, 32 Harpoon sub-launched missiles, 182 Javelin guided missiles and four E-2T system upgrades.
The move drew strong protest from China, which reacted by suspending military-to-military exchanges and nonproliferation talks with the US.
The contacts are expected to resume sometime next week, media reports said.
China will be the final leg of Clinton’s Asia trip, which will also take her to Indonesia and South Korea.
In response to the news, Ministry of National Defense Spokeswoman Major-General Lisa Chi (池玉蘭) said yesterday that the military welcomed the US administration’s decision to maintain its arms sales policy on Taiwan.
A stable peace in the Taiwan Strait would be in the interest of Taiwan, the US and all countries in the region, Chi said.
Continuing to offer Taiwan defensive weapons would help maintain a stable peace in the Taiwan Strait, she added.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY RICH CHANG
Also See: Berkeley backs TRA commitments
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
TECH EFFECT: While Chiayi County was the oldest region in the nation, Hsinchu county and city, home of the nation’s chip industry, were the youngest, the report showed Seven of the nation’s administrative regions, encompassing 57.2 percent of Taiwan’s townships and villages, became “super-aged societies” in June, the Ministry of the Interior said in its latest report. A region is considered super-aged if 20 percent of the population is aged 65 or older. The ministry report showed that Taiwan had 4,391,744 people aged 65 or older as of June, representing 18.76 percent of the total population and an increase of 1,024,425 people compared with August 2018. In June, the nation’s elderly dependency ratio was 27.3 senior citizens per 100 working-aged people, an increase of 7.39 people over August 2018, it said. That
‘UNITED FRONT’: The married couple allegedly produced talk show videos for platforms such as Facebook and YouTube to influence Taiwan’s politics A husband and wife affiliated with the China Unification Promotion Party (CUPP) were indicted yesterday for allegedly receiving NT$74 million (US$2.32 million) from China to make radio and digital media propaganda to promote the Chinese government’s political agenda and influence the outcome of Taiwan’s elections. Chang Meng-chung (張孟崇) and his wife, Hung Wen-ting (洪文婷), allegedly received a total of NT$74 million from China between 2021 and last year to promote candidates favored by Beijing, contravening the Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法) and election laws, the Chiayi District Prosecutors’ Office said. The couple acted as Beijing’s propaganda mouthpiece by disparaging Hong Kong democracy activists
EARLY ARRIVALS: The first sets of HIMARS purchased from the US arrived ahead of their scheduled delivery, with troops already training on the platforms, a source said The Ministry of National Defense (MND) yesterday said it spotted 35 Chinese military aircraft, including fighters and bombers, flying to the south of Taiwan proper on the way to exercises in the Pacific, a second consecutive day it has reported such activities. The Chinese Ministry of National Defense did not respond to a request for comment on the missions, reported just days before tomorrow’s US presidential election. The US is bound by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself. Its arms sales to Taipei include a US$2 billion missile system announced last month. The MND said that from 9am yesterday,
RSS