Taiwan’s new representative to the US, Jason Yuan (袁健生), said upon arriving in Washington on Monday that he expected the US government would eventually approve pending sales of defensive weapons to Taiwan and that he would restore mutual trust between the two sides.
Yuan received a warm welcome from 100 Taiwanese officials and expatriates upon his arrival at the airport on Monday.
Barbara Schrage, managing director of the American Institute in Taiwan, was also present to welcome Yuan.
Schrage said at the airport that the US and Taiwan had long had a solid relationship and that she hoped bilateral relations would become even more robust.
REBUILDING TRUST
At the airport, Yuan said he would use his sincerity to rebuild mutual trust.
As bilateral relations are solid, he said rebuilding trust should not be too difficult, but that it would take time.
Questioned about Washington’s reported “freeze” on the sales of weapons to Taiwan, Yuan told reporters that US government agencies — including the Department of State, the Department of Defense and the National Security Council — had never used the term “freeze.”
Yuan said the US is a country that follows the law and that the Taiwan Relations Act is “a US law.”
As a result, he said he did not believe that any US government official would violate the act and freeze arms deals with Taiwan.
Yuan said he believed that after the US Congress reconvenes, the US government would notify it of its approval of the long-delayed arms package sale to Taiwan.
NO BLOCK
He said he believed Congress would not block the approval.
Congress will adjourn on Sept. 26, meaning the notification — which Congress has 30 days to respond to — would have to be submitted later this month if the arms deal were to be finalized this year.
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
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
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
RSS