The core objective of the US partnership with Taiwan is to ensure that the island is “strong and confident, and free from coercion and threat,” a senior Pentagon official reportedly told the US-Taiwan Defense Industry Conference.
Only when it acts from a position of strength can Taipei engage in productive dialogue with Beijing to equitably and peacefully merge differences, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy Daniel Chiu said.
The conference was closed to the press and the Pentagon refused to provide a copy of Chiu’s remarks, but several different sources provided the Taipei Times with an outline of the keynote speech delivered on Monday. Overall, those attending the conference were reassured by Chiu’s words, which followed widespread discussion that the US had been neglecting Taiwan.
Chui said that the US’ obligation to Taiwan did not begin and end with arms sales. Washington’s overall defense cooperation was broader and more consequential than any single dimension of it, he said, adding that Taiwan needed to focus its planning and procurement efforts on a nontraditional, innovative and asymmetric approach.
Defense reforms to date were important and necessary, but were not sufficient, Chiu said.
The preservation of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait is fundamental to broader US strategic interests, chief among them the promotion of peace and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region, Chiu said.
As part of a broad defense and security system agenda, the US constantly engages with Taiwan in evaluating, assessing and reviewing its defense needs. The US supported Taiwan’s military modernization efforts.
Security is a necessary precondition to peace and prosperity, and it is crucial that Taiwan’s defense force had the capability to defend the nation, he said.
It is important for Taiwan to have the military personnel, equipment and training that would make an aggressor pause before using threat or force for the purpose of coercion or aggression, he added.
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