The US allowed a Republic of China (ROC) military plane from Taiwan to transit its territory for the first time in 30 years, officials said yesterday.
The cargo plane made a stop inside US territory while carrying relief supplies to Haiti, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said.
“We have approved Taiwan’s request for a cargo airplane to refuel in the US and in US territories in order to reach Haiti as quickly as possible. We are doing possible to ensure needed emergency supplies reach Haiti expeditiously. This is part of that effort,” AIT press officer Christopher Kavanagh said.
AIT declined to give further details and asked the media to refer all questions to Taiwan’s government. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, however, refused to comment, saying it had no information at the moment.
Asked if Washington had discussed the issue with Beijing prior to giving the green light, Kavanagh told Agence France Presse “there is no need” as the approval was given on humanitarian grounds.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu (馬朝旭) reacted to the news by saying: “We oppose any government, including the United States, from having any official contact with Taiwan.”
The Chinese-language United Daily News identified the aircraft as a C-130 air force transport plane and said the stop was for refueling.
In other developments, a 65-member Taiwan Root Medical Peace Corps team landed in the Dominican Republic capital of Santo Domingo on Wednesday and was scheduled to drive into Haiti yesterday. It is the third team from Taiwan to go to Haiti.
A team of 23 rescue workers and two dogs from the National Fire Agency and Taichung City Fire Department is en route to Taiwan, said Chen Chia-chun (陳家駿), minister extraordinary of the ROC embassy in the Dominican Republic.
A group of 33 members of the Red Cross Society of The Republic of China, a Taipei City international rescue squad, and a Tri-Service General Hospital will return home in the next two days, Chen said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY JENNY W. HSU
INVESTIGATION: The case is the latest instance of a DPP figure being implicated in an espionage network accused of allegedly leaking information to Chinese intelligence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) member Ho Jen-chieh (何仁傑) was detained and held incommunicado yesterday on suspicion of spying for China during his tenure as assistant to then-minister of foreign affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮). The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said Ho was implicated during its investigation into alleged spying activities by former Presidential Office consultant Wu Shang-yu (吳尚雨). Prosecutors said there is reason to believe Ho breached the National Security Act (國家安全法) by leaking classified Ministry of Foreign Affairs information to Chinese intelligence. Following interrogation, prosecutors petitioned the Taipei District Court to detain Ho, citing concerns over potential collusion or tampering of evidence. The
NEGOTIATIONS: The US response to the countermeasures and plans Taiwan presented has been positive, including boosting procurement and investment, the president said Taiwan is included in the first group for trade negotiations with the US, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, as he seeks to shield Taiwanese exporters from a 32 percent tariff. In Washington, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in an interview on Fox News on Thursday that he would speak to his Taiwanese and Israeli counterparts yesterday about tariffs after holding a long discussion with the Vietnamese earlier. US President Donald Trump on Wednesday postponed punishing levies on multiple trade partners, including Taiwan, for three months after trillions of US dollars were wiped off global markets. He has maintained a 10 percent
TRADE: The premier pledged safeguards on ‘Made in Taiwan’ labeling, anti-dumping measures and stricter export controls to strengthen its position in trade talks Products labeled “made in Taiwan” must be genuinely made in Taiwan, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday, vowing to enforce strict safeguards against “origin laundering” and initiate anti-dumping investigations to prevent China dumping its products in Taiwan. Cho made the remarks in a discussion session with representatives from industries in Kaohsiung. In response to the US government’s recent announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on its trading partners, President William Lai (賴清德) and Cho last week began a series of consultations with industry leaders nationwide to gather feedback and address concerns. Taiwanese and US officials held a videoconference on Friday evening to discuss the
PERSONAL DATA: The implicated KMT members allegedly compiled their petitions by copying names from party lists without the consent of the people concerned Judicial authorities searched six locations yesterday and questioned six people, including one elderly Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) member and five KMT Youth League associates, about alleged signature forgery and fraud relating to their recall efforts against two Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators. After launching a probe into alleged signature forgery and related fraud in the KMT’s recall effort, prosecutors received a number of complaints, including about one petition that had 1,748 signatures of voters whose family members said they had already passed away, and also voters who said they did not approve the use of their name, Taipei Deputy Chief Prosecutor