The US wants Taiwan to be “strong and confident,” a senior Pentagon official said on Monday.
“It should contribute to our regional effort to maintain peace and security,” US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia Abraham Denmark said.
Denmark’s keynote speech to the 14th annual US-Taiwan Defense Industry Conference in Williamsburg, Virginia, was closed to the press, but the Taipei Times was later given access to the notes of several of those in attendance.
He referred twice to the US commitment to Taiwan’s defense.
“Taiwan needs to have an effective defense capability itself,” he said.
“We do have a ‘one China’ policy, the Three Communiques and the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA),” Denmark said.
He referred to the earlier arms sales and granting of export licenses to Taiwan by the administration of US President Barack Obama amounting to nearly US$14 billion.
Denmark talked about Washington’s obligations under the TRA and said: “Don’t focus on the sales aspect itself.”
He said that while arms sales were part of the US obligations, “we are constantly engaged to enhance abilities.”
Denmark said that the US wanted Taiwan to have a “credible, visible defense — including non-traditional and asymmetric capabilities.”
He mentioned a number of specific measures the nation could take, including the “hardening” of defense facilities.
It is important for Taiwan to have the right size of defense capability that is “mobile and surviving,” he said.
Denmark added that what mattered most was that the Taiwan military had “the right capabilities and the right training and the right motivation.”
Taiwan’s military needs to emphasize operational readiness and “see the necessity to replace old systems with new ones, and be ready to do so,” he said.
He referred to a recent report to the US Congress which said Taiwan remained the focus of China’s military effort and said it was a “challenge” to the US to enhance the nation’s capabilities.
Denmark said the conference helped the US defense industry to focus on its role to help Taiwan maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.
He repeated his earlier point about the necessity of Taiwan’s defense force being “mobile, survivable and difficult to destroy.”
Denmark said that while the US was committed to Taiwan’s defense, it was also essential for Taiwan to be determined to defend itself.
‘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