Seeking to join various US-led military drills, including the Rim of the Pacific Exercise (RIMPAC), is an area in which Taiwan has wished to further its military cooperation with the US this year, Representative to the US King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) said in a written report to the legislature.
In addition to 35 military cooperation projects scheduled to take place this year, up from 18 projects last year, “we will continue to strive for participation in all major military drills led by the US, including RIMPAC,” King said.
He did not elaborate on what the cooperation projects are.
A meeting has been scheduled for tomorrow, where King is to brief lawmakers in the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on the prospects for US-Taiwan relations this year and to take their questions.
In the report, King identified five broad areas of further cooperation between Taiwan and the US — strengthening bilateral relations; highlighting the importance of bilateral economic and trade ties; consolidating the military and security partnership; joining hands in dealing with global affairs and crises; and collaborating in territorial disputes in the East China Sea and the South China Sea.
On the security front, King said that US President Barack Obama’s administration has attached high importance to Taiwan’s national security, of which the record-high arms sale of US$12 billion during his presidency is testimony, while Taiwan received more support from the US Congress last year than ever before.
Last year marked the first time that US lawmakers voiced support for Taiwan’s inclusion in the RIMPAC naval exercise, when eight US congressmen signed a bipartisan letter in October requesting that US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel invite Taiwan to take part in this year’s drill, King said.
In November last year, US Senator Dan Coats submitted an amendment stating that Taiwan should be invited to participate at this year’s RIMPAC to help its proficiency in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, he added.
Hosted by the US Navy, RIMPAC, the world’s largest international maritime exercise, is held biennially during June and July in Honolulu, Hawaii, and is designed to foster and sustain the cooperative relationships critical to ensuring safety of sea lanes and security on the world’s oceans, according to the US Navy Web site.
China’s People’s Liberation Army in November last year agreed to participate in RIMPAC for the first time this year, in response to an invitation extended by former US secretary of defense Leon Panetta during a visit to Beijing in 2012.
King also revealed for the first time in the report that Taiwan had stayed in touch with the US since the Liaoning, China’s first aircraft carrier, started passing through the Taiwan Strait on Nov. 28, amid tensions over China’s unilateral designation of an air defense identification zone in the East China Sea.
Taiwan and the US monitored the Liaoning’s course closely, King said.
King’s statement somewhat contradicted a report on Nov. 29 by the Global Times, a mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party, saying that Taiwan turned down requests by the US and Japan to conduct surveillance of the carrier in relay.
According to a report by the Taipei Times on Nov. 7, US Admiral Samuel Locklear III, the Commander of US Pacific Command, did not respond affirmatively when asked at a briefing at the Washington Foreign Press Center about the possibility of the US inviting Taipei to join this year’s RIMPAC.
King added in the report that the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US has scheduled conferences and other events in Washington this year to mark the 35th anniversary of the enactment of the Taiwan Relations Act to highlight the importance of the law.
Although tensions across the Taiwan Strait have gradually eased, threats of force by China against Taiwan must never be ignored, King said.
If the US can continue to provide Taiwan with weapons, in accordance with the Taiwan Relations Act, it can not only help Taiwan beef up its self-defense capability and boost confidence in its negotiations with China, but also lay down foundations for stability in cross-strait relations and peace in East Asia, King said.
Taiwan welcomes more US arms sales, including “advanced fighter jets,” and looks forward to consolidating its military and security partnership with the US in the areas of coordination of military strategies, anti-terrorism and cybersecurity, he said.
CLASH OF WORDS: While China’s foreign minister insisted the US play a constructive role with China, Rubio stressed Washington’s commitment to its allies in the region The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday affirmed and welcomed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio statements expressing the US’ “serious concern over China’s coercive actions against Taiwan” and aggressive behavior in the South China Sea, in a telephone call with his Chinese counterpart. The ministry in a news release yesterday also said that the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs had stated many fallacies about Taiwan in the call. “We solemnly emphasize again that our country and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to each other, and it has been an objective fact for a long time, as well as
‘CHARM OFFENSIVE’: Beijing has been sending senior Chinese officials to Okinawa as part of efforts to influence public opinion against the US, the ‘Telegraph’ reported Beijing is believed to be sowing divisions in Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture to better facilitate an invasion of Taiwan, British newspaper the Telegraph reported on Saturday. Less than 750km from Taiwan, Okinawa hosts nearly 30,000 US troops who would likely “play a pivotal role should Beijing order the invasion of Taiwan,” it wrote. To prevent US intervention in an invasion, China is carrying out a “silent invasion” of Okinawa by stoking the flames of discontent among locals toward the US presence in the prefecture, it said. Beijing is also allegedly funding separatists in the region, including Chosuke Yara, the head of the Ryukyu Independence
‘ARMED GROUP’: Two defendants used Chinese funds to form the ‘Republic of China Taiwan Military Government,’ posing a threat to national security, prosecutors said A retired lieutenant general has been charged after using funds from China to recruit military personnel for an “armed” group that would assist invading Chinese forces, prosecutors said yesterday. The retired officer, Kao An-kuo (高安國), was among six people indicted for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法), the High Prosecutors’ Office said in a statement. The group visited China multiple times, separately and together, from 2018 to last year, where they met Chinese military intelligence personnel for instructions and funding “to initiate and develop organizations for China,” prosecutors said. Their actions posed a “serious threat” to “national security and social stability,” the statement
‘INDISCRIMINATE’: The drastic changes would delay many national projects as well as undermine global confidence in Taiwan’s resolve to defend itself, the premier said The Legislative Yuan yesterday on third reading passed the central government budget for this year, cutting 6.6 percent from the Executive Yuan’s proposed expenditure — the largest in history. The budget proposal, which the Cabinet approved in August last year, set government spending at NT$3.1325 trillion (US$95.6 billion), with projected revenues of NT$3.1534 trillion — both record highs — working out to a surplus of NT$20.9 billion. On Friday last week, the opposition-led legislature voted to cut NT$93.98 billion from the budget’s general provisions. During a 20-hour continuous session from Monday until yesterday morning, they continued to slash the budgets of government agencies,
RSS