The US on Saturday congratulated the people of Taiwan for holding successful Legislative Yuan elections, but stopped short of congratulating the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for its victory, in a brief statement issued some hours after the results were announced in Taipei.
In a largely boilerplate statement that echoed similar comments issued after previous elections, the State Department said, "The United States congratulates the people of Taiwan for a successful and democratic election, and we are looking forward to the continued close and unofficial relationship with Taiwan."
The department made no comment on the two referendums that failed to gain approval, but sources said that the administration must be pleased that they failed, in view of Washington's hostility to the planned presidential election-day referendum on entry into the UN under the name Taiwan.
The administration "must be rubbing their hands with some glee" that the two referendums drew less than the 50 percent participation rate needed for adoption, one source speculated.
The feeling is that the failure of the referendums, which repeated the experience of the two national security referendums in 2004, might presage a similar fate for the UN referendum.
The referendum plan has soured relations between the US administration and President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) government over the past year.
One observer noted the significance of the phrase, "continued close" relations, used by the State Department.
A magnitude 4.9 earthquake struck off Tainan at 11:47am today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 32.3km northeast of Tainan City Hall at a depth of 7.3km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Tainan and Chiayi County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and County, and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Kaohsiung, Nantou County, Changhua County, Taitung County and offshore Penghu County, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of
Weather conditions across Taiwan are expected to remain stable today, but cloudy to rainy skies are expected from tomorrow onward due to increasing moisture in the atmosphere, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). Daytime highs today are expected to hit 25-27°C in western Taiwan and 22-24°C in the eastern counties of Yilan, Hualien, and Taitung, data on the CWA website indicated. After sunset, temperatures could drop to 16-17°C in most parts of Taiwan. For tomorrow, precipitation is likely in northern Taiwan as a cloud system moves in from China. Daytime temperatures are expected to hover around 25°C, the CWA said. Starting Monday, areas
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
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