Two members of US Congress — Republican Representative Michael McCaul from Texas and Democratic Representative Shelley Berkley from Nevada — are commemorating the 30th anniversary of former US president Ronald Reagan’s “six assurances” and the 25th anniversary of the lifting of martial law in Taiwan by entering special statements in the US Congressional Record.
Both representatives said they were acting “to further underline our unwavering commitment and affirm our support for the strong and deepening relationship between the US and Taiwan.”
Reagan issued the “six assurances” on July 14, 1982, to reaffirm US policy toward Taiwan and stipulate that the US would not pressure Taiwan to negotiate with China. On the same date, five years later, then-president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) lifted martial law in Taiwan. It had been in place for 38 years — the longest period of rule by martial law of any regime in the world.
“The coincidence in dates of these two critical junctures in Taiwan’s history, five years apart, highlights the indispensable role that the US and the Taiwan Relations Act each played in the island’s democratization,” Formosa Association for Public Affairs president Mark Kao (高龍榮) said.
“Beijing does not believe in the legitimacy of either the ‘six assurances’ or the Taiwan Relations Act because both documents fly in the face of its aspiration to annex Taiwan by force,” Kao said.
McCaul and Berkley said in their Congressional statements: “The people of Taiwan continue to live day after day under the ominous shadow cast by over 1,400 short and medium-range ballistic missiles that China has aimed at them.”
“The PRC [People’s Republic of China] persists in claiming Taiwan as a ‘renegade province’ refusing to renounce the use of force to prevent Taiwan’s formal de jure independence,” they added.
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
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Lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday established a friendship group with their counterparts in Ukraine to promote parliamentary exchanges between the two countries. A ceremony in Taipei for the Taiwan-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Association, initiated by DPP Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷), was attended by lawmakers and officials, including Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) and European Economic and Trade Office in Taiwan Director Lutz Gullner. The increasingly dire situation in Ukraine is a global concern, and Taiwan cannot turn its back when the latter is in need of help, as the two countries share many common values and interests,
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