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.”
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
RSS