US Congressman David Wu (
In a statement, Wu, the only US congressman of Taiwanese descent, who has served five terms as a member of the House of Representatives, said that almost any person born and raised in Taiwan had the freedom to travel to the US.
But once a person is chosen as Taiwan's president through democratic elections, this freedom is inappropriately rescinded by the US government, he said.
"While the United States attempts to promote democracy around the world, we lock the doors of our capital city to the leaders of a fellow democracy," he said.
"Rather than symbolically shunning Taiwan's democratically elected leaders, we should welcome them," Wu said.
Wu, who was born in Hsinchu, pointed out that Taiwan, once a single-party state under martial law, made a peaceful transition during the late 1980s and early 1990s to a full-fledged democracy and a multi-party political system that respects human rights and the rule of law.
"For over 50 years, our two nations have fostered a close relationship, which has been of mutual political, economic, cultural and strategic advantage. However, one vital inequity exists that prevents the exchange of views at the highest political levels: The United States government continues to adhere to guidelines from the 1970s that bar the president, vice president, premier, foreign minister and defense minister of Taiwan from coming to Washington," he said.
"Why, when Taiwan is a key player in the Asia-Pacific region, do we prevent their highest-level decision makers from traveling to our nation's capital? This outdated policy severely limits our direct dialogue with world leaders," he said.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