Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) began his 11-day visit yesterday in Los Angeles, California, expressing appreciation for the US’ arms sales to Taiwan, in an apparent reference to Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) request that Washington cease the sales.
Xi raised the issue during his two-day informal summit with US President Barack Obama, which took place near Palm Springs, California, on Friday and Saturday.
Su told reporters before a dinner banquet that he would like to express his gratitued to the US for the arms it has sold to Taiwan over the past three decades in accordance with the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA).
“The US government’s decade-long compliance with the TRA has prevented the people of Taiwan from fear of threat... The most important factor in maintaining peace across the Taiwan Strait is taking China’s military threat against Taiwan out of the equation,” Su said.
Su, who is visiting the US and Canada and is scheduled to spend four days in Washington, met with US Representative Edward Royce at the dinner banquet, according to a press released issued by the DPP.
The Republican chair of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Foreign Affairs was quoted as saying that he pledged the US Congress “would do whatever it can to ensure Taiwan’s democracy, economic development and security.”
Royce was also quoted as saying that he has been advocating for the Taiwan Policy Act on Capitol Hill and personally endorsed several measures that would improve bilateral cooperation, including the visit of high-ranking Taiwanese officials to Washington, a US-Taiwan free-trade agreement and Taiwan’s membership in the International Civil Aviation Organization.
Royce also said he would like to see the name of Taiwan’s representative office in Washington changed from the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office.
Su is scheduled to visit New York, Houston, Washington, Toronto and Vancouver before returning to Taiwan on June 18. The most important event on his itinerary will be inauguration of the DPP’s representative office in Washington on Friday.
OPTIMISTIC: The DGBAS sharply upgraded its GDP growth estimate from 3.54 percent to 7.71 percent after the Taiwan-US trade agreement signing and given AI optimism The US imported more from Taiwan than China for the first time in decades, as US President Donald Trump’s tariffs reshape trade flows while a global boom in artificial intelligence (AI) fuels demand for tech products. US purchases of goods from China plunged almost 44 percent in December last year from 2024 to US$21.1 billion, US Department of Commerce data showed on Thursday. By contrast, shipments from Taiwan more than doubled during the same period to US$24.7 billion. The soaring Taiwanese shipments to the US reflect the huge expansion in supplies of chips and servers for AI companies, which has completely changed
NON-NEGOTIABLE: The US president’s action ran counter to one of the US’ ‘six assurances’ on not consulting China about arms sales to Taiwan, US lawmakers said US President Donald Trump’s admission that he is discussing arms sales to Taiwan with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is “alarming and a blatant violation of US policy and the six assurances,” US Representative Ro Khanna said on Tuesday. Trump on Monday said he would decide soon on whether to send more weapons to Taiwan, after Xi warned him not to do so. “I’m talking to him about it. We had a good conversation, and we’ll make a determination pretty soon,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One when asked about warnings raised by Beijing during a phone call with Xi over
The Central Election Commission has amended election and recall regulations to require elected office candidates to provide proof that they have no Chinese citizenship, a Cabinet report said. The commission on Oct. 29 last year revised the Measures for the Permission of Family-based Residence, Long-term Residence and Settlement of People from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area (大陸地區人民在台灣地區依親居留長期居留或定居許可辦法), the Executive Yuan said in a report it submitted to the legislature for review. The revision requires Chinese citizens applying for permanent residency to submit notarial documents showing that they have lost their Chinese household record and have renounced — or have never
US and Chinese fighter jets briefly faced off above waters near the Korean Peninsula this week, Yonhap News agency reported, marking a rare confrontation in that area between the two superpowers. About 10 US fighter jets on Wednesday departed an airbase in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, for drills above international waters off South Korea’s western coast, the news outlet cited unidentified military sources as saying. While the US planes did not enter China’s air defense identification zone, Beijing scrambled planes as they neared that region, the report said. “The Chinese People’s Liberation Army organized naval and air forces to monitor and effectively respond
RSS