Taiwan yesterday thanked US senators for introducing legislation that aims to help Taipei keep its 17 remaining allies, after China within three years poached five of the nation’s diplomatic allies.
The bipartisan Taiwan Allies International Protection and Enhancement Initiative (TAIPEI) Act introduced on Monday by Republican senators Cory Gardner and Marco Rubio, and Democratic senators Ed Markey and Bob Menendez is intended to strengthen Taiwan’s standing in the world, a news release issued by Gardner said.
It was created in response to five nations’ severance of diplomatic ties with Taiwan over the past two-and-a-half years due to Chinese pressure, it added.
Photo: AFP
“The TAIPEI Act requires a US strategy to engage with governments around the world to support Taiwan’s diplomatic recognition or strengthen unofficial ties with Taiwan,” the statement said.
It authorizes the US Department of State to downgrade US relations with any government that takes adverse action regarding Taiwan, including suspending or altering foreign assistance, such as military financing, it said.
“This bipartisan legislation demands a whole-of-government approach to stand up to China’s bullying tactics against Taiwan, and will send a strong message to those nations considering siding with China over Taiwan that there will be consequences for such actions,” Gardner was quoted as saying in the news release.
“Beijing is promising paydays to governments to entice them to cut diplomatic relations with Taiwan,” Markey said. “Without a coherent US strategy to push back, Taiwan’s official partners might drop from 17 to zero. We must stand up for our friends in Taiwan.”
Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Andrew Lee (李憲章) expressed gratitude for the senators’ long-term support.
Washington is the nation’s most important ally, Presidential Office spokesman Sidney Lin (林鶴明) said, thanking the US Congress for its long-standing support.
“We will also engage in close negotiations with different divisions of the US government to ensure that Taiwan’s international space will not be affected by other factors” Lin said.
Since President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) took office in May 2016, El Salvador, Sao Tome and Principe, Panama, the Dominican Republic and Burkina Faso have switched diplomatic recognition to Beijing.
A US Department of State spokesperson last month said that the decision by El Salvador, the last nation to cut ties, was disappointing.
“Although we recognize the sovereign right of every country to determine its diplomatic relations, we are deeply disappointed by this decision,” the spokesperson said.
Additional reporting by Su Yung-yao
‘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