US President Barack Obama on Friday signed into law H.R. 1151 — an act concerning participation of Taiwan in the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) — and announced the US government’s full support for Taiwan’s participation in the organization.
While signing the act into law, Obama also issued a statement saying that Washington fully supports Taiwan becoming part of international organizations where statehood is not a requirement for membership and encourages the nation’s meaningful participation — where appropriate — in organizations of which it cannot be a member.
The US administration has publicly supported Taiwan’s participation in the ICAO and will continue to do so, the statement said.
“Consistent with my constitutional authority to conduct foreign affairs, my Administration shall construe the Act to be consistent with the ‘one China’ policy of the United States, which remains unchanged, and shall determine the measures best suited to advance the overall goal of Taiwan’s participation in the ICAO,” Obama said in the statement.
The US president said that some sections of the act contain impermissibly mandatory language purporting to direct the US Secretary of State to undertake certain diplomatic initiatives and to report to the US Congress on the progress of those initiatives.
“Consistent with longstanding constitutional practice, my Administration will interpret and implement these sections in a manner that does not interfere with my constitutional authority to conduct diplomacy and to protect the confidentiality of diplomatic communications,” Obama said in the statement.
The US House of Representatives and the US Senate each passed resolutions supporting Taiwan’s ICAO bid earlier this month. As their versions were the same, the two chambers moved quickly to pass the bill.
US Senator Robert Menendez, chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, who initiated the senatorial resolution, said that the signing into law of the act marks a step forward in Taiwan’s pursuit of ICAO participation. Menendez added that he believes Taiwan will contribute greatly to the aviation organization and its bid should not be turned down.
US Representative Ed Royce, chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, who introduced the legislation, has previously said Taiwan’s exclusion from the ICAO is extremely disadvantageous to the millions of passengers flying between Taiwan and the US annually.
The number of people traveling between the two countries is expected to increase significantly after Taiwanese nationals were granted visa-free entry to the US last year.
Meanwhile, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Anna Kao (高安) yesterday expressed the Republic of China government’s gratitude to Obama for singing the act into law, describing it as a positive development.
Congress finalizing the legislation and Obama signing it into law showed that the US’ administrative, legislative and local governments all support Taiwan’s ICAO bid, Kao added.
Kao said the ICAO is scheduled to hold a meeting in Montreal, Canada, in September and the ministry is devising a strategy for it.
‘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