The US yesterday said that it has a “profound interest” in the continuation of peace and stability between Taiwan and China, just hours after Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) won the election.
“We look forward to working with Dr Tsai [Ing-wen] and Taiwan’s leaders of all parties to advance our many common interests and further strengthen the unofficial relationship between the United States and the people on Taiwan,” it said in a statement.
Tsai is to become the first female president of Taiwan when she is inaugurated on May 20.
“We also congratulate the people on Taiwan for once again demonstrating the strength of their robust democratic system, which will now undergo another peaceful transition of power,” US Department of State spokesman John Kirby said in a statement.
The US also thanks President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) for his efforts to develop a strong partnership with the US and applauds him for the concrete steps he has taken to improve cross-strait ties in recent years, Kirby said in the statement.
“We hope that President Ma’s administration and the incoming administration will work constructively to ensure a smooth transition and continue to promote peace and stability in the region,” he said.
Separately yesterday, during a visit to Tsai’s campaign headquarters in Taipei, former American Institute in Taiwan director William Stanton urged China to give Tsai some time, because he knows Tsai wants stable cross-strait relations.
Stanton said was smart and cautious, adding that Tsai has had contact with China before. She will want stability, he said.
Tsai’s government faces many challenges, including issues concerning pensions, education, labor and cross-strait links, he said, adding that China “should be patient.”
He suggested Tsai send a representative or make a telephone call to Beijing to make her stance clear.
Stanton now lives in Taiwan, and is National Tsing Hua University’s senior vice president of global affairs.
British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond also issued a statement congratulating Tsai.
“The Presidential and legislative elections held in Taiwan today are testament to Taiwan’s thriving democracy. I offer my warm congratulations to the people of Taiwan on the smooth and mature conduct of those elections and to Dr Tsai Ing-wen and her party for having won their support,” Hammond said.
Hammond said he hopes Taiwan and the Chinese Government would continue their dialogue to resolve differences and maintain the recent trend of constructive relations.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most
RSS