Nineteen students and young professionals from Taiwan, the US and Europe have completed an intensive two-week course on how to lobby the US Congress and promote better Taiwan-US relations.
The 12th annual Ambassador Program was organized by the Formosa Foundation and was conducted in Washington to teach grassroots campaign and advocacy skills.
“The nation’s continued democratic consolidation, economic viability and security are vital to US interests,” foundation board member Eugene Wu (吳東進) said.
The course involved 27 workshops and keynote addresses by policymakers, including US House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs Chairman Ed Royce, and US senators Sherrod Brown and Lisa Murkowski.
They met and heard academics such as Brookings Institution director of East Asia Policy Studies Richard Bush, a former American Institute in Taiwan chairman; Project 2049 Institute executive director Mark Stokes; American Enterprise Institute director of Asian Studies Dan Blumenthal; and University of Miami professor June Teufel Dreyer.
US-Taiwan Business Council president Rupert Hammond-
Chambers spoke about the importance of free markets and their role in a flourishing democracy.
Heritage Foundation fellows Dean Cheng (成斌) and Bill Wilson gave a briefing on Taiwan’s defense capabilities and economy and author Gordon Chang (章家敦) spoke on the nation’s increasingly pivotal role in the Asia-Pacific region.
Others who addressed the group were Congressional Research Services specialist Shirley Kan, International Assessment and Strategy Center director John Tkacik, Foreign Policy Initiative director Robert Zarte and Center for the National Interest director Joanna Yu Taylor.
Formosa Films executive Will Tiao (刁毓能) shared his personal experience producing the movie Formosa Betrayed and elaborated on effective messaging on Capitol Hill.
Over the course of the two-week program, the attendees met with 145 members of Congress and their staff.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was questioned by prosecutors for allegedly orchestrating an attack on a taxi driver after he was allegedly driven on a longer than necessary route in a car he disliked. The questioning at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office was ongoing as of press time last night. Police have recommended charges of attempted murder. The legally embattled actor — known for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代) — is under a separate investigation for allegedly using fake medical documents to evade mandatory military service. According to local media reports, police said Wang earlier last year ordered a
CAUTION: Based on intelligence from the nation’s security agencies, MOFA has cautioned Taiwanese travelers about heightened safety risks in China-friendly countries The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Taiwanese to be aware of their safety when traveling abroad, especially in countries that are friendly to China. China in June last year issued 22 guidelines that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death so-called “diehard” Taiwanese independence activists, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan. Late last month, a senior Chinese official gave closed-door instructions to state security units to implement the guidelines in countries friendly to China, a government memo and a senior Taiwan security official said, based on information gathered by Taiwan’s intelligence agency. The
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said yesterday that it is looking to hire 8,000 people this year, at a time when the tech giant is expanding production capacity to maintain its lead over competitors. To attract talent, TSMC would launch a large-scale recruitment campaign on campuses across Taiwan, where a newly recruited engineer with a master’s degree could expect to receive an average salary of NT$2.2 million (US$60,912), which is much higher than the 2023 national average of NT$709,000 for those in the same category, according to government statistics. TSMC, which accounted for more than 60 percent
President William Lai (賴清德) should protect Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), and stop supporting domestic strife and discord, former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) wrote on Facebook yesterday. US President Donald Trump and TSMC on Monday jointly announced that the company would invest an additional US$100 billion over the next few years to expand its semiconductor manufacturing operations in the US. The TSMC plans have promoted concern in Taiwan that it would effectively lead to the chipmaking giant becoming Americanized. The Lai administration lacks tangible policies to address concerns that Taiwan might follow in Ukraine’s footsteps, Ma wrote. Instead, it seems to think it could
RSS