US House Committee on Foreign Affairs Chairman Ed Royce has promised Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) that he will support Taiwan’s efforts to be included in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free-trade agreement.
During her ongoing five-day visit to Washington, Tsai has said that TPP membership is vital for the nation’s economy.
Following a closed-door meeting with Tsai on Thursday, Royce said that one of the most important ways the US Congress could help Taiwan was to back its vibrant democracy and that Taiwan needed to be included in TPP.
“Also, I reiterated my commitment to press the administration to come to a decision on helping Taiwan acquire diesel submarines,” he said.
Later, Tsai met with the US-Taiwan Business Council, with former US deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage, and attended a rally and banquet organized by a group of leading Taiwanese Americans.
At an event on Wednesday, former assistant secretary of state Kurt Campbell asked Tsai how she would help unify Taiwan’s “deeply divided society.”
She said that if elected to the presidency next year, she would run an open and transparent government and would increase the quality and quantity of non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
Tsai said the NGOs would facilitate dialogue between the government and the public.
“After the Sunflower movement, there has been a rise of third forces in Taiwan and I think this is a good development in the sense that public awareness has been increased and people want to participate in the decisionmaking process,” she said.
Tsai said the environment in Taiwan was very different from when she last ran for the presidency and that her campaign had developed better communications so that “our intentions will not be distorted or misunderstood.”
Tsai said that while some people have reservations about electing a woman president, the younger generation has been generally excited about the idea.
“They think it is rather trendy,” she said.
Tsai said that the business culture in Taiwan has to change so that business leaders become less afraid of failure.
“We will need to change the legal infrastructure to suit the needs of an innovation-based economy,” she said.
Campbell asked Tsai for her views on Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平).
“I have to answer this question very carefully,” Tsai said.
“I like the idea of his anti-corruption campaign. I admire his courage. To many observers, he seems to be rather rough and not that prepared to exercise flexibility,” she said.
“I hope he has a better understanding of the situation in Taiwan and also an understanding of Taiwan as a democracy,” she said.
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