Representative to the US King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) said on Monday that Washington’s stance toward Taiwan remains unchanged following US President Barack Obama’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) this month.
King said the US remains committed to providing Taiwan with defensive weapons as stipulated in the Taiwan Relations Act, enacted in 1979 when Washington and Taipei severed diplomatic ties.
According to a briefing on the meeting by US officials, the Chinese side raised the issue of Taiwan as it often does, King said. However, the US stance on the matter was firm, and Obama stated clearly from the beginning that the US would provide Taiwan with defensive weapons where necessary.
Photo: CNA
The US also said it was happy to see the two sides of the Taiwan Strait continue to engage in peaceful dialogue and move toward mutually beneficial development. It also hoped that the Taiwan issue could be decided by both sides, especially by the 23 million people on Taiwan, King said. He said the most important aspect of the summit was that it did not change Washington’s stance on Taiwan.
King was also asked about China’s advocacy of building “a new model of major country relationship” with the US.
“As long as it does not undermine the interests of the Republic of China, we are happy to see them further develop better relations,” King said on the sidelines of a ceremony at which Taiwan and Maryland agreed to mutually recognize each other’s driver’s licenses.
Effective immediately, Taiwanese license holders who have legal resident status in Maryland can obtain a Maryland driver’s license without taking the requisite tests. Americans who have a Maryland driver’s license can enjoy reciprocal treatment in Taiwan.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it is fully aware of the situation following reports that the son of ousted Chinese politician Bo Xilai (薄熙來) has arrived in Taiwan and is to marry a Taiwanese. Local media reported that Bo Guagua (薄瓜瓜), son of the former member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is to marry the granddaughter of Luodong Poh-Ai Hospital founder Hsu Wen-cheng (許文政). The pair met when studying abroad and arranged to get married this year, with the wedding breakfast to be held at The One holiday resort in Hsinchu
The Taipei Zoo on Saturday said it would pursue legal action against a man who was filmed climbing over a railing to tease and feed spotted hyenas in their enclosure earlier that day. In videos uploaded to social media on Saturday, a man can be seen climbing over a protective railing and approaching a ledge above the zoo’s spotted hyena enclosure, before dropping unidentified objects down to two of the animals. The Taipei Zoo in a statement said the man’s actions were “extremely inappropriate and even illegal.” In addition to monitoring the hyenas’ health, the zoo would collect evidence provided by the public
‘SIGN OF DANGER’: Beijing has never directly named Taiwanese leaders before, so China is saying that its actions are aimed at the DPP, a foundation official said National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) yesterday accused Beijing of spreading propaganda, saying that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had singled out President William Lai (賴清德) in his meeting with US President Joe Biden when talking about those whose “true nature” seek Taiwanese independence. The Biden-Xi meeting took place on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Peru on Saturday. “If the US cares about maintaining peace across the Taiwan Strait, it is crucial that it sees clearly the true nature of Lai and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in seeking Taiwanese independence, handles the Taiwan question with extra
A decision to describe a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement on Singapore’s Taiwan policy as “erroneous” was made because the city-state has its own “one China policy” and has not followed Beijing’s “one China principle,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang (田中光) said yesterday. It has been a longstanding practice for the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to speak on other countries’ behalf concerning Taiwan, Tien said. The latest example was a statement issued by the PRC after a meeting between Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on the sidelines of the APEC summit
RSS