The Washington-based Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA) is urging US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to redefine the US’ relationship with Taiwan.
In advance of Clinton’s much-heralded trip to China, FAPA is expressing concern that she will come under pressure to abandon Taiwan in exchange for Beijing’s cooperation on climate change issues.
“The time is now for the US to turn over a new leaf in its relationship with Taiwan,” FAPA president Bob Yang (楊英育) said.
Yang added: “With President [Barack] Obama’s human and civil rights background, redefining the US relationship is an idea whose time has come. The US needs to base its Taiwan policy on the values of democracy and human rights it shares with the island nation, and not on the dictates and threats of an undemocratic and authoritarian China.”
FAPA has written to Clinton stressing the “erosion of democracy and justice in Taiwan” and charging that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has failed to protect the nation’s interests and sovereignty during negotiations with China.
The letter says: “We understand that in the near future you will travel to Japan, Indonesia, South Korea and China. In exchange for its cooperation on climate change issues, the [Chinese] government will undoubtedly attempt to whittle away the support from the United States for Taiwan as mandated in the Taiwan Relations Act, which was passed three decades ago.”
It adds: “We urge you to stand up for the basic principles of human rights and democracy, and impress upon the government in Beijing that it should accept Taiwan as a friendly neighbor. Peace and stability in East Asia can only be maintained if the people of Taiwan have a free and open choice on their future, as stipulated in the principle of self-determination enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations.”
The first suggestion that Beijing might try to make a deal on climate change at Taiwan’s expense appeared in the Washington Post last week.
“Some experts 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,” the newspaper said.
While a senior source within the Ma administration has dismissed this possibility, the fact that FAPA is raising the issue again this week reflects growing concern that it could eventuate.
Making her first foreign trip as secretary of state, Clinton will be in Tokyo from Feb. 16 to Feb. 18; in Jakarta from Feb. 18 to Feb. 19; in Seoul from Feb. 19 to Feb. 20; and in Beijing from Feb. 20 to Feb. 22.
FAPA is a Taiwanese-American non-profit grassroots organization established in Los Angeles in 1982. It now has 55 chapters across the US.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY STAFF WRITER
TENSIONS: The Chinese aircraft and vessels were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a joint air and sea military exercise, the Ministry of National Defense said A relatively large number of Chinese military aircraft and vessels were detected in Taiwan’s vicinity yesterday morning, apparently en route to a Chinese military exercise in the western Pacific, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. In a statement, the ministry said 36 Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft, including J-16 fighters and nuclear-capable H-6 bombers, crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait or an extension of it, and were detected in the southern and southeastern parts of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) from 5:20am to 9:30am yesterday. They were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a
Honor guards are to stop performing changing of the guard ceremonies around a statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) to avoid “worshiping authoritarianism,” the Ministry of Culture said yesterday. The fate of the bronze statue has long been the subject of fierce and polarizing debate in Taiwan, which has transformed from an autocracy under Chiang into one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies. The changing of the guard each hour at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei is a major tourist attraction, but starting from 9am on Monday, the ceremony is to be moved outdoors to Democracy Boulevard, outside the eponymous blue-and-white memorial
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supports peaceful unification with China, and President William Lai (賴清德) is “a bit naive” for being a “practical worker for Taiwanese independence,” former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview published yesterday. Asked about whether the KMT is on the same page as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on the issue of Taiwanese independence or unification with China, Ma told the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that they are not. While the KMT supports peaceful unification and is against unification by force, the DPP opposes unification as such and
CASES SLOWING: Although weekly COVID-19 cases are rising, the growth rate has been falling, from 90 percent to 30 percent, 14 percent and 6 percent, the CDC said COVID-19 hospitalizations last week rose 6 percent to 987, while deaths soared 55 percent to 99, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, adding that the recent wave of infections would likely peak this week. People aged 65 or older accounted for 79 percent of the hospitalizations and 90 percent of the deaths, the majority of whom have or had underlying health conditions, CDC data showed. The youngest hospitalized case last week was a six-month-old, who was born preterm and was unvaccinated, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said. The infant had a fever, coughing and a runny nose early this month, but