In another congressional effort to prod US President George W. Bush to unfreeze the sale of major weapons packages to Taiwan, more than two dozen members of the Congressional Taiwan Caucus on Thursday sent Bush a letter urging him to allow the sales to go through.
Spearheaded by caucus co-chairmen Steve Chabot and Shelley Berkley, both of whom conferred with visiting Legislative Yuan Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) this week, the lawmakers pledged to help the administration process the sales as soon as possible after the White House and State Department lift the freeze.
“We believe the freeze on foreign military sales to Taiwan violates the spirit of the Taiwan Relations Act. We request a briefing on the status of these sales from all appropriate agencies, and urge the administration to expeditiously execute consideration of these requests,” the letter said.
Citing China’s rapid escalation in military spending and modernization, much of which the Pentagon has identified as aimed at Taiwan, the letter said: “The military and strategic imperatives for Taiwan are real and urgent, and if we fail to show the necessary resolve it would mean missing a significant opportunity to improve cross-strait peace and security, a vital US interest.”
A similar letter was sent to Bush by 14 senators, many of whom are members of the Senate Taiwan Caucus, on June 30.
As for the earlier letter, the latest communication owes much of its existence to the Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA), a pro-independence group based in Washington that lobbies Congress on behalf of Taiwan’s interests.
FAPA president Bob Yang (楊英育) welcomed the lawmakers’ letter, saying “any arms freeze is a clear violation of the law [the Taiwan Relations Act] and needs to be lifted immediately.”
Rain is to increase from Wednesday morning as Severe Tropical Storm Kong-Rey approaches, with sea warnings to be issued as early as tomorrow afternoon, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. As of 8am, Kong-Rey was 1,050km east-southeast of the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春) heading in a northwesterly direction toward Taiwan, CWA Forecast Center Director Lin Po-tung (林伯東) said. Rainfall is to increase from Wednesday morning, especially in northern Taiwan and Yilan County, he said. A sea warning is possible from tomorrow afternoon, while a land warning may be issued on Wednesday morning, he added. Kong-Rey may intensify into a moderate typhoon as it passes
Hong Kong singer Andy Lau’s (劉德華) concert in Taipei tonight has been cancelled due to Typhoon Kong-rei and is to be held at noon on Saturday instead, the concert organizer SuperDome said in a statement this afternoon. Tonight’s concert at Taipei Arena was to be the first of four consecutive nightly performances by Lau in Taipei, but it was called off at the request of Taipei Metro, the operator of the venue, due to the weather, said the organizer. Taipei Metro said the concert was cancelled out of consideration for the audience’s safety. The decision disappointed a number of Lau’s fans who had
Taiwan yesterday issued warnings to four Chinese coast guard vessels that intruded into restricted waters around the Taiwan-controlled Kinmen Islands, according to the Coast Guard Administration (CGA). The four China Coast Guard ships were detected approaching restricted waters south of Kinmen at around 2 pm yesterday, the CGA’s Kinmen-Matsu Branch said in a statement. The CGA said it immediately deployed four patrol boats to closely monitor the situation. When the Chinese ships with the hull numbers "14512," "14609," "14603" and "14602" separately entered the restricted waters off Fuhsing islet (復興嶼), Zhaishan (翟山), Sinhu (新湖) and Liaoluo (料羅) at 3 pm, the Taiwanese patrol
MUCH-NEEDED: After China demonstrated its capabilities to deploy vertical launching systems, Taiwan needs air defense systems such as NASAMS, a defense expert said The US’ approval of exports of three advanced air defense missile systems to Taiwan signified NATO’s goodwill toward the nation, a Taiwanese defense expert said. The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency on Friday announced the US$1.16 billion sale of the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS) and the US$828 million sale of AN/TPS-77 and AN/TPS-78 radar turnkey systems. The NASAMS is a network that uses ground-launched Air Intercept Missile (AIM)-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM) to intercept hostile aircraft, drones and cruise missiles. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), director of defense strategy and resources at the state-funded Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said
RSS