The four co-chairs of the Congressional Taiwan Caucus in the US have written to US President Barack Obama urging him to keep Taiwan’s “vital security interests” in mind during next week’s summit with Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤).
“In the event that matters concerning Taiwan are raised, we further urge you to emphasize to President Hu that the US position remains clear … the United States will support Taiwan’s security and will continue to provide it with arms, as required under the Taiwan Relations Act,” the letter says.
It is signed by Shelley Berkley, a Democrat from Nevada; Gerald Connolly, a Virginia Democrat; Phil Gingrey, a Georgia Republican; and Florida Republican Mario Diaz-Balart.
“The PRC [People’s Republic of China] has engaged in a large scale military build-up over the past few years and has not abandoned the threat of force, with 1,000 missiles pointed directly at Taiwan,” the letter says.
“It is of the utmost importance that President Hu understands the US’s firm commitment to ensuring that Taiwan has tools it needs to defend itself,” it says.
US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell has just arrived back in Washington from talks in Beijing, where he was trying to work out a final joint statement to be issued by Hu and Obama after their meeting on Wednesday.
A Congressional source close to the White House said the statement had yet to be finalized.
The source would not confirm it, but there were rumors going around Washington that one of the sticking points concerned wording about Taiwan.
“There’s no final decision yet on what the joint statement will say. The White House will be looking to avoid problematic language,” Foreign Policy magazine’s Josh Rogin said.
“Recognizing that US-China relations have been increasingly strained since China cut off military-to-military ties last February [over arms sales to Taiwan], both sides are seeking a visit that highlights what’s positive in the relationship and sets the stage for a warming of ties in the summit’s wake,” he said.
Bill Gertz of the Washington Times wrote this week that a new showdown was looming between China and the US over arms sales to Taiwan.
“The Obama administration privately has decided to sell a new arms package to the island, but is keeping details secret until after next week’s visit,” he wrote.
Gertz said he was told by a senior Obama administration official that the package includes equipment to upgrade Taiwan’s 145 F-16A/B fighter aircraft with new electronics, engines and missiles worth as much as US$4 billion.
“Defense sources said Taiwan’s request to buy more modern F-16s is still being considered, but the upgrade package is assured,” Gertz wrote.
Senior Pentagon and White House officials approached by the Taipei Times refused to confirm the deal. However, if such a deal went through, it would almost certainly propel US-China relations to a new low.
Meanwhile, a group of human rights advocates and China specialists are urging Obama to demonstrate the US’ commitment to human rights during his summit with Hu.
The groups, including Amnesty International, Freedom House and Human Rights Watch, want Obama to show that he “takes seriously the multiple challenges posed by the Chinese government’s stand on human rights.”
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
RSS