Vice President Annette Lu (
Lu, who arrived in Houston Saturday evening for a three-day transit stay en route to a Central America diplomatic tour that will take her to El Salvador and Guatemala, made the appeal in a speech delivered at a dinner given in her honor by major Taiwanese associations in Texas.
The dinner happened to coincide with the passage of the "anti-secession" law by China's rubber-stamp parliament -- the National People's Congress -- in Beijing before the conclusion of its 10-day annual plenary session.
Lu said the legislation is actually a "war authorization law."
Lu said the law is "not a law," but rather a political statement aimed at forcing Taiwan to accept its "one China" principle as the ultimate means to unification.
By enacting the law, Lu said, Beijing has unequivocally revealed a move to unilaterally alter the status quo across the Taiwan Strait.
As China is a member of the UN Security Council, Lu said, the UN should condemn China over its stark violation of the UN Charter, which she said bans the use of force in resolving international disputes.
The vice president also urged the US to show moral courage by denouncing the "anti-secession" law, which Lu said runs against the fundamental US premise of a peaceful solution to cross-strait disputes under which it established diplomatic ties with China in 1979.
On Sunday, Lu had lunch with a group of pro-Taiwan lawmakers at a Texas-style steakhouse in downtown Houston visited by President Chen Shui-bian (
Later in the day, she attended a rodeo at Reliant Park -- the world's largest cowboy showground and American football stadium.
Lu was accorded high-level courtesies, circling around the giant stadium aboard an open-topped limousine and being introduced to a full house as "Taiwan's vice president."
Wearing a cowboy hat, Lu waved to the crowd and received a resounding two-minute welcome. Many Taiwanese expatriates were surprised and excited by Lu's unexpected appearance. The show was also broadcast live to 52 countries.
Meanwhile, China's consulate in Houston mobilized a group of Chinese expatriates and students in Texas to demonstrate outside the restaurant where Lu dined with representatives of the Taiwanese community in the southern US state.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about
RSS