De facto ambassador to the US Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) yesterday said he would work to build a channel of communication that would help the US understand Taiwan.
Wu shared his goals for his new job yesterday afternoon in a farewell news conference held at the Mainland Affairs Council, where he served as chairman for the past three years.
Wu will arrive in Washington on April 14 and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will hold a swear-in ceremony for Wu on April 12 before Wu leaves Taipei.
The ministry yesterday also gave Wu a briefing about his new diplomatic position.
Wu said President Chen Shui-bian (
"I think Taiwan and the US have a very solid friendship, but it seems that some issues have not been fully communicated and understood by both sides," he said. "It is a perception that Taiwan, as a democratic country, has not been treated fairly, as it deserves, and we wonder if we can get equal opportunities to voice our position."
For example, Wu said, that although South Korea had had tense relations with the US, the two countries concluded a landmark free trade agreement on Monday.
Asked if the American Institute in Taiwan had offered an invitation to visit Washington after next year's presidential election and whether Wu would list Chen's trip to the US as one of his tasks, Wu said he had not yet received such an order, but said he agreed that it was another example of discrimination against Taiwan that high-ranking governmental officials could not visit the US freely.
He will bring this issue to the attention of Washington, he said.
While saying that he would consider creating a space or a location in Washington for officials from Taiwan and China to communicate with each other, Wu added that he doubted the Chinese government would allow its officials to have contact with Taiwanese officials.
"Our principle is we open up to them [Chinese officials] and not avoid meeting them," Wu said.
TENSIONS: The Chinese aircraft and vessels were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a joint air and sea military exercise, the Ministry of National Defense said A relatively large number of Chinese military aircraft and vessels were detected in Taiwan’s vicinity yesterday morning, apparently en route to a Chinese military exercise in the western Pacific, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. In a statement, the ministry said 36 Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft, including J-16 fighters and nuclear-capable H-6 bombers, crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait or an extension of it, and were detected in the southern and southeastern parts of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) from 5:20am to 9:30am yesterday. They were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a
Honor guards are to stop performing changing of the guard ceremonies around a statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) to avoid “worshiping authoritarianism,” the Ministry of Culture said yesterday. The fate of the bronze statue has long been the subject of fierce and polarizing debate in Taiwan, which has transformed from an autocracy under Chiang into one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies. The changing of the guard each hour at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei is a major tourist attraction, but starting from 9am on Monday, the ceremony is to be moved outdoors to Democracy Boulevard, outside the eponymous blue-and-white memorial
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supports peaceful unification with China, and President William Lai (賴清德) is “a bit naive” for being a “practical worker for Taiwanese independence,” former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview published yesterday. Asked about whether the KMT is on the same page as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on the issue of Taiwanese independence or unification with China, Ma told the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that they are not. While the KMT supports peaceful unification and is against unification by force, the DPP opposes unification as such and
CASES SLOWING: Although weekly COVID-19 cases are rising, the growth rate has been falling, from 90 percent to 30 percent, 14 percent and 6 percent, the CDC said COVID-19 hospitalizations last week rose 6 percent to 987, while deaths soared 55 percent to 99, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, adding that the recent wave of infections would likely peak this week. People aged 65 or older accounted for 79 percent of the hospitalizations and 90 percent of the deaths, the majority of whom have or had underlying health conditions, CDC data showed. The youngest hospitalized case last week was a six-month-old, who was born preterm and was unvaccinated, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said. The infant had a fever, coughing and a runny nose early this month, but