The White House is refusing to negotiate with US Senator John Cornyn over his demands for greater “clarity” on whether the US will agree to the future sale of F-16C/D jets to Taiwan.
Despite enormous pressure, US President Barack Obama will not even discuss the issue.
Cornyn is putting the president’s feet to the fire by holding up the nomination of Mark Lippert for the job of US assistant secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific security affairs.
It is an important job, and one that would make Lippert — nominated by Obama in October last year — the Pentagon’s top Asia official.
However, under the US political system, a senator has the power to put a “hold” on a presidential nomination and stop it going forward indefinitely.
Soon after the nomination was first made, Senator John McCain put it on hold until he was provided the details of a certain national security issue.
The White House negotiated with McCain, reached a compromise and the senator lifted his hold on the nomination last month.
Cornyn then stepped in and placed a new hold on the nomination — a well-established US Senate tactic to win concessions from the president.
Cornyn is furious because the White House last year refused to sell new F-16s to Taiwan and decided instead to upgrade the old versions of the fighters the country already owns.
The F-16C/Ds that Taiwan has been seeking for years are made in Texas and Taipei’s order for 66 of the fighters would have guaranteed a large number of local jobs that are now under threat as the assembly line prepares to close.
Cornyn has argued for the sale on the grounds that it is required under the Taiwan Relations Act and also that it would provide a desperately needed boost to the US economy.
Obama has not ruled out the sale of F-16C/Ds to Taiwan and his top aides say the issue remains under consideration.
In a letter to the president, Cornyn demanded “clarity” on the issue.
During an election year, with employment and the economy likely to be decisive issues, Cornyn is in effect trying to force the White House to agree to the sale and secure jobs in his home state.
However, sources close to Cornyn said that on this occasion, the White House has remained silent and made no attempt to negotiate with him.
Cornyn said at the end of last week: “More than anything, I’d like to engage in a discussion over how do we solve this problem.”
“So far they seem to act like they can just ignore it and it’s going to go away, but I’m not planning on going away,” he said.
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
Taiwanese professional baseball should update sports stadiums and boost engagement to enhance fans’ experience, Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) commissioner Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) in an interview on Friday. The league has urged Farglory Group and the Taipei City Government to improve the Taipei Dome’s outdated equipment, including relatively rudimentary television and sound systems, and poor technology, he said. The Tokyo Dome has markedly better television and sound systems, despite being 30 years old, because its managers continually upgraded its equipment, Tsai said. In contrast, the Taipei Dome lacked even a room for referees
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
RSS