Representative to the US David Lee (
However, in his monthly "tea party" press conference with the Taiwanese press corps in Washington, Lee did not say how such a change could occur.
He did say that from Taiwan's point of view, any policy changes should come about through a "consensus-building process between the government and the people."
Lee told the Taipei Times after the press conference that he had not heard from the US government about Chad's decision to recognize Beijing at Taipei's expense, and that he had not contacted US officials about the development.
However, in the past, the US has advised him to beware of China's intent to isolate Taiwan.
"Over the past three years, the US has told me and several of my senior colleagues that we have to be aware of the trends and the policies of the PRC [People's Republic of China] on strangulating Taiwan's international space," Lee said.
"And the US has suggested that we do some thinking about how to cope with this. I think this is a decision that is up to the Taiwan people to decide. It is not something the US can decide for us," he said.
Questioned about Minister of Foreign Affairs James Huang's (黃志芳) handling of the Chad switch, Lee came to Huang's defense, and said he did not want to try to "second-guess" the ministry's actions.
Based on his long diplomatic experience and his stint as deputy foreign minister, in which he handled similar cases, Lee said, "I can hardly imagine that if we put anyone else aside from Minister Huang [in the position], we would have different results."
China will continue to do whatever it can to take advantage of Taiwan, Lee said.
"This cutthroat competition will go on as long as the leaders on both sides of the Taiwan Strait do not change their mindset," Lee said.
"I do not see the possibility that the Beijing leadership will change their mindset on this issue. And with regard to Taipei, since we are a democratic country, if we do decide to change the policies or the mindset, we need a consensus-building process between the government and the people," he said.
Meanwhile, analysts in Taipei said yesterday that China's merciless campaign to reduce Taiwan's diplomatic allies and its gradual increase of missiles targeted at Taiwan were solid proof it was undermining the status quo across the Taiwan Strait.
In a forum held by Taiwan Thinktank on the country's external relations in the wake of Chad's decision to shift diplomatic recognition to China, Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政), a political science professor from Soochow University, said that it was an incremental change in the cross-strait status quo by China.
"What China is doing is to essentialize the `one China' principle -- that is to make Taiwan a non-sovereign country and a part of China," Lo said.
Chad's decision to establish diplomatic relations with Beijing just before Premier Su Tseng-chang (
The timing of the Chad mishap, which came immediately after the Cabinet's economic conference aimed at normalizing cross-strait economic relations, meant that Beijing does not expect Su would be able to improve ties, and doesn't want to give any credit to the Democratic Progressive Party government before the next presidential election in 2008, Lo said.
Lin Cheng-yi (
Taipei had only 22 allies when the Republic of China withdrew from the UN in 1971.
Lin urged the government to thoroughly investigate the reasons for the loss of each ally and take responsibility for any policy errors it might have made as well as avoid similar mistakes.
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
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