The US State Department said on Tuesday that the US supports Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan's (
The remark by spokesman Adam Ereli during his regular daily press briefing was the strongest endorsement so far of the Lien trip by the Bush administration, which is believed to have pressured President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) in recent weeks to accept contact between the pan-blue camp and leaders in Beijing.
"We believe that steps that increase dialogue, support dialogue, support a peaceful resolution of cross-strait tensions are to be supported, to be welcomed," Ereli said.
"And that's the case with this latest visit. And we support the expansion of those kinds of contacts," he said.
Earlier, department statements said the US "welcomed" pan-blue contacts with China, but this was the first time a spokesman had expressed US "support" for those efforts.
Ereli refused to comment on Chen's warning to Lien not to engage in state-to-state style negotiations during his trip, or whether the US was concerned that the KMT might act to undermine US policy.
"I don't have any comment to share with you on those discussions," he said.
Ereli also said he did not have enough information to say whether Taiwan or the Lien visit would come up in discussions in Beijing between incoming Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia Christopher Hill and Chinese leaders.
Hill arrived in Beijing less than a week after he formally assumed the assistant secretary post, replacing James Kelly who left the department for the private sector earlier in the year.
Hill met Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei (
Hill was to leave for Tokyo yesterday for further discussions on North Korea.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
RSS