US Secretary of State John Kerry promised a member of the US Congress on Wednesday that he would look into the imprisonment of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), who is in failing health.
Kerry also agreed to investigate the status of Taiwan’s request to buy eight diesel-electric submarines from the US.
The remarks came as members of the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee questioned Kerry during a special hearing on next year’s foreign affairs budget and on securing US interests abroad.
Republican Representative Steve Chabot, co-founder of the Congressional Taiwan Caucus, first asked Kerry about the submarines.
“I’d like to talk about Taiwan just for a minute,” he said.
“Back in 2001, there was the announcement by [then-US] president [George W.] Bush at the time of Washington’s willingness to cooperate with Taiwan in acquiring eight diesel-electric submarines at the cost of US$12 billion,” Chabot said.
“The official position of Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense remains committed to procuring those submarines from the US,” he said.
Chabot said the sale has been stalled because the US stopped making diesel-electric submarines many years ago.
“I know we’ve worked with France and some of our allies on this,” he said. “Could you advise what the current status of these submarines being acquired by Taiwan is?”
Turning to the issue of Chen’s health, he said that Chen “languishes to this day in a jail cell in Taiwan.”
“To me, it smacks of the criminalization of politics. To the extent that this administration communicates with President Ma [Ying-jeou (馬英九)], I would just urge you to urge President Ma to do the humanitarian thing. President Chen’s health is failing,” he said.
Kerry replied: “Well, thank you, congressman. I appreciate it.”
“I’ll take that and just follow up on it, and let me see what we can do about that,” he added.
A US Department of State source said later that Kerry would “most probably” provide Chabot with written comments on both issues within the next month.
‘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