In an apparent criticism of pan-blue efforts to block the arms procurement package from reaching the legislative floor, the US State Department on Friday called on the Taiwanese to "hold their leaders responsible for preventing extraneous issues from interfering with urgent defense decisions."
At the same time, the US said "we applaud the Chen [Shui-bian (
The State Department also came to the defense of American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Stephen Young and indirectly slammed the opposition pan-blue forces for preventing the Legislative Yuan from acting on the proposed procurement of US weapons systems.
In a statement supporting the AIT director's comments on Thursday urging the legislature to approve the arms procurement budget this fall, the State Department said that Young's comments reflected the long-standing US position and assessment of Taiwan's defense needs in light of Beijing's break-neck military upgrade.
Sources say that the administration is increasingly frustrated over the Legislative Yuan's failure to act on the defense budget.
"The dissatisfaction is tactile here, in Congress as well as in the administration," said Michael Fonte, a consultant with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in Washington.
"There is a growing dissatisfaction in Washington with hearing from some leaders in Taiwan that they are going to move forward on budgets and in seeing no response," he said.
He was referring to promises of action of the defense bills by both Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (
Sources say that Young's comments were in response to orders he was given by the department during a 10-day trip he took to Washington earlier this month. Young briefed his superiors and talked to a wide range of people, including a number of think tanks in Washington, they said.
The sources also say the remarks were meant to reinforce those made by Clifford Hart, the coordinator of the State Department's Taiwan department, last month at a defense industry conference hosted by the US-Taiwan Business Council in Denver.
At that meeting, Hart said it was "urgent" that Taiwan boost its defense spending to counter any war in the Taiwan Strait, and called on Taiwanese leaders to "place national security above partisan politics," and "compromise and bury differences."
Hart also took an apparent potshot at Ma, saying "leaders who aspire to represent Taiwan's people in dealing with the American people should appreciate that their positions right now ... cannot help but inform the sort of relations they will have with Washington in the years to come."
Asked at the daily department press briefing on Friday whether Young still has US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's confidence, spokesman Sean McCormack said that "he's doing a good job" and the department has no plans to recall him from his Taipei post.
The State Department also issued a statement after the press briefing, in which a department official said Young's comments "reflect the United States' long time encouragement of an increase in Taiwan's overall defense spending and for funding a strategy that reinforces stability in the Taiwan Strait."
"Director Young's remarks are fully consistent with long-held US positions and are based on our assessment of Taiwan's defense needs," it said.
"In view of Beijing's decade-long military modernization and US obligations under the Taiwan Relations Act [which commits the US to help defend Taiwan], the United States has a direct interest in Taiwan's maintaining adequate self defense capabilities," it said.
In the end, however, the department said, "it is up to the Taiwan people to decide how much to spend on defense and how to spend it."
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) yesterday appealed to the authorities to release former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) from pretrial detention amid conflicting reports about his health. The TPP at a news conference on Thursday said that Ko should be released to a hospital for treatment, adding that he has blood in his urine and had spells of pain and nausea followed by vomiting over the past three months. Hsieh Yen-yau (謝炎堯), a retired professor of internal medicine and Ko’s former teacher, said that Ko’s symptoms aligned with gallstones, kidney inflammation and potentially dangerous heart conditions. Ko, charged with