The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday expressed its disappointment over the removal of the Republic of China (ROC) flag from several US government Web sites, saying it has conveyed its grave concerns to Washington.
The ministry made the remarks hours after the Chinese-language United Daily News reported the disappearance of the ROC flag from the Web sites of the US Department of State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs and the Office of the US Trade Representative that displayed the flag on their introduction pages for Taiwan.
The newspaper published screenshots of the Taiwan introduction page on the US trade office’s Web site, one from June last year and the other from Tuesday, to show the removal of the flag.
Screen grab from the Bureau of Consular Affairs’ Web site
The US Department of State made the change on its Web site in September last year.
The ministry talked to the US about the matter several months ago, ministry spokesman Andrew Lee (李憲章) told a news conference in Taipei.
“That is why we found the latest flag removal from the Web sites of the two US government agencies not only unthinkable, but also unacceptable and disappointing,” Lee said, adding that Taipei has expressed its serious concerns to Washington.
The US had previously repeatedly reassured the ministry that Taiwan-US ties remained solid and that there was no shift in its policy, Lee said.
“However, we believe that such cases [the removal of the ROC flag] could influence the Taiwanese public’s perception of the status of relations between the two nations,” he said.
The ministry has taken note of Beijing’s increased attempts to use its “sharp power” to squeeze Taipei’s space within international organizations and oppress Taiwan on the supposedly free and open Internet, Lee said.
Such attempts are not conducive to the development of cross-strait ties, Lee added.
“Sharp power,” a term coined by the US-based National Endowment for Democracy, a non-profit organization that promotes democracy, refers to authoritarian efforts to “influence their target audiences by manipulating or distorting the information that reaches them.”
American Institute in Taiwan spokeswoman Sonia Urbom reiterated that the US’ policy toward Taiwan has not changed.
“The United States remains committed to our ‘one China’ policy based on the three joint communiques and the Taiwan Relations Act,” Urbom said.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
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