The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday denied charges by a former US official that Taiwan’s China-leaning policy was steering it away from the ranks of world democracies and that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) did not have a US policy.
A report in the Taipei Times on Friday cited former US diplomat John Tkacik as testifying at a US congressional hearing that Taiwan is “moving out of the column of the community of democracies” and now “basically agrees” that it is part of China.
Tkacik also said the Ma administration had a very clear China policy, but not a US policy.
KMT spokesman Yin Wei (殷瑋) said Tkacik was wrong on both counts, calling his comments groundless and not factual.
The Ma administration’s China policy is clearly based on the principles of “no unification, no independence and no use of force” and a cross-strait understanding that there is only “one China,” with each side free to interpret what that is, Yin said.
The “one China,” Yin said, refers to the Republic of China and there is no alternative explanation.
Therefore, how can it be that “Taiwan is part of mainland China?” Yin asked.
On Tkacik’s charge that Taiwan is moving away from the community of democracies and that Ma has adopted a policy of “accommodating” Beijing, Yin said the 16 cross-strait agreements signed since Ma took office in 2008 were made in the interests of Taiwan.
He pointed to Ma’s re-election in January as clear evidence of support for the agreements.
Addressing the accusation that the Ma administration had a China policy, but not a US policy, Yin said former US president George W. Bush and US President Barack Obama have repeatedly recognized improved ties between Taiwan and China, with Obama praising the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement signed between Taiwan and China in June 2010.
Moreover, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton last year said that Taiwan was an important security and economic partner of the US, and American Institute in Taiwan Chairman Raymond Burghardt praised Ma in February for improving US-Taiwan relations during his first term, Yin said.
Taiwan’s US policy is further reflected by US$18.3 billion in arms sales offered to Taiwan, visits by senior US officials and the ongoing evaluation of Taiwan’s bid to join the US visa-waiver program, Yin said, adding that US-Taiwan ties were at their best in 60 years.
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