US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has officially confirmed that her first foreign trip since assuming office will be to Japan, Indonesia, South Korea and China.
She will be in Tokyo from Feb. 16 through Feb. 18, Jakarta from Feb. 18 through Feb. 19, Seoul from Feb. 19 through Feb. 20 and Beijing from Feb. 20 through Feb. 22.
“In all capitals, the secretary will be discussing common approaches to the challenges facing the international community, including the financial markets’ turmoil, humanitarian issues, security and climate change,” US State Department acting spokesman Robert Wood said.
While Taiwan was not mentioned during Wood’s briefing on the trip, senior State Department sources said later that there was “no doubt at all” that US-Taiwan policy would be discussed in both Beijing and Tokyo.
In particular, the sources said, Clinton would address China’s questions about US arms sales to Taipei and would seek clarification on China’s stand on Taiwan and the WHO and World Health Assembly.
The Washington Post said in an article on its Web page soon after the briefing that Clinton’s focus on climate change appeared to be part of a broader administration effort to try to persuade China to join with the US in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
But the newspaper added: “Some experts, however, warn that China may demand a freer hand on such contentious issues as Taiwan and Tibet in exchange for working with the United States on reducing emissions.”
State Department officials reached by the Taipei Times insisted that Taiwan would never be used as a bargaining chip with Beijing to win concessions on other issues.
“We will not sell Taiwan down the river, you can be sure of that,” one official said.
Asked specifically about North Korea, Wood said: “North Korea will come up in conversations. We all want to see how we can get North Korea to abide by their international obligations and to see how, through the six-party framework, we can get them to live up to those obligations.”
This was a clear reference to North Korea’s continuing and much-condemned development of nuclear weapons.
It was noted that Clinton was going to China before US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Wood was asked if this were an indication that the State Department was taking the lead in terms of the US relationship with China and if she would be discussing currency and exchange rates.
In a vexed tone Wood replied: “The secretary has said that this is an important relationship for the United States. It’s very broad. The State Department will have an important role in engaging China. I’m not going to get into this, who has greater weight within the relationship.”
Under the administration of former US president George W. Bush it often appeared as though the Treasury had a greater role than the State Department in the making of China policy.
“The subjects of human rights and Tibet always come up in conversations with our Chinese counterparts because human rights is a very important issue for the United States. So I would suspect that those issues could very well come up,” Wood said.
The acting spokesman said that Asia was growing in influence and prosperity and that Clinton felt that going to Asia on her first trip abroad as secretary of state “would send a tremendous signal to Asia and others in the world of the importance of Asia, particularly in our foreign policy agenda.”
Wood was reminded that Clinton “made this big splash” in 1995 with a human rights speech in Beijing.
“Human rights will be a big focus and another issue I should have mentioned that she cares very deeply about and will be discussing on the trip is women’s empowerment,” he said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
RSS