Taiwan still wants the US to approve further weapons sales despite a marked thaw in tensions between Taipei and Beijing, Government Information Office (GIO) Minister Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) said on Friday in Washington.
Chiang said on a visit to Washington that national security remained paramount for Taiwan and “for its democracy.”
“In order to have a credible deterrence to prevent any future miscalculation, it is reasonable and necessary for Taiwan to continue to have those armaments that we cannot manufacture ourselves,” he told reporters.
Chiang said that Taiwan still had a standing request for weapons, including F-16 fighter jets. The US in January approved a US$6.4 billion package, including helicopters, anti-missile defenses and mine-sweepers.
China protested the sale.
Despite the signing of the cross-strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) on June 29 that marks closer trade and cooperation between the two sides, Chiang said it was too early for Beijing and Taipei to engage in formal talks on a long-term political settlement.
“We don’t think ... that our mutual understanding and mutual trust is mature enough to talk about those sovereignty issues,” Chiang said.
Critics of the ECFA fear that the agreement will jeopardize Taiwan’s de facto independence and may eventually turn it into a Chinese territory along the lines of Hong Kong and Macau.
Meanwhile, in an interview with the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations, Chiang said that any future free-trade agreements Taiwan wants to sign with its trading partners should be solely up to the two parties concerned.
“It is hard to deny that Beijing won’t have any political influence,” he said when asked if China could interfere in such deals, but “no matter what, a free-trade deal is still a matter that should be decided between Taiwan and its trading partner. They have the final say.”
On concerns that the tariff-reducing measures in the deal could have a negative impact on some industries, Chiang said that vulnerable industries, such as agricultural products, were excluded from the measures. He added that the agreement does not permit laborers from China to work in Taiwan.
Chiang arrived in Washington on Thursday after visiting New York last week to speak with US think tanks and media outlets about the ECFA. During his visit to Washington, Chiang will meet representatives of the Brookings Institution and media outlets.
Civil society groups yesterday protested outside the Legislative Yuan, decrying Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) efforts to pass three major bills that they said would seriously harm Taiwan’s democracy, and called to oust KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁). It was the second night of the three-day “Bluebird wintertime action” protests in Taipei, with organizers announcing that 8,000 people attended. Organized by Taiwan Citizen Front, the Economic Democracy Union (EDU) and a coalition of civil groups, about 6,000 people began a demonstration in front of KMT party headquarters in Taipei on Wednesday, organizers said. For the third day, the organizers asked people to assemble
Taipei is participating in Osaka’s Festival of Lights this year, with a 3m-tall bubble tea light installation symbolizing Taiwan’s bubble tea culture. The installation is designed as a bubble tea cup and features illustrations of Taipei’s iconic landmarks, such as Taipei 101, the Red House and North Gate, as well as soup dumplings and the matchmaking deity the Old Man Under the Moon (月下老人), affectionately known as Yue Lao (月老). Taipei and Osaka have collaborated closely on tourism and culture since Taipei first participated in the festival in 2018, the Taipei City Department of Information and Tourism said. In February, Osaka represented
POOR IMPLEMENTATION: Teachers welcomed the suspension, saying that the scheme disrupted school schedules, quality of learning and the milk market A policy to offer free milk to all school-age children nationwide is to be suspended next year due to multiple problems arising from implementation of the policy, the Executive Yuan announced yesterday. The policy was designed to increase the calcium intake of school-age children in Taiwan by drinking milk, as more than 80 percent drink less than 240ml per day. The recommended amount is 480ml. It was also implemented to help Taiwanese dairy farmers counter competition from fresh milk produced in New Zealand, which is to be imported to Taiwan tariff-free next year when the Agreement Between New Zealand and
IDENTITY SHIFT: Asked to choose to identify as either Taiwanese or Chinese, 83.3 percent of respondents chose Taiwanese, while 8.4 percent chose Chinese An overwhelming majority of Taiwanese, 71.5 percent, think that Taiwan should compete in international competitions under the name “Taiwan,” a Taiwan Brain Trust survey published yesterday showed. Referring to Taiwan’s victory last month at the World Baseball Softball Confederation’s Premier12, the survey results showed that 89.1 percent of respondents said that Taiwan’s exceptional performance in sporting competitions furthers national unity. Only 18.8 percent of respondents supported Taiwanese teams’ continued use of the name “Chinese Taipei” in international sporting competitions, the survey showed. Among Taiwan’s leading political parties, the name “Team Taiwan” was supported by 91.1 percent of self-identified Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) supporters,
RSS