Changes in Taiwan and on the international stage warrant reconsideration of the US’ “one China” policy, New Power Party (NPP) Executive Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said on Friday, as party officials wrapped up a visit to Washington.
“The ‘one China’ policy was born under the backdrop of the Cold War, when Taiwan was still a one-party authoritarian state that had not realized a true democracy. Now that we are in the 21st century and Taiwanese use truly democratic means to select their leaders, and given developments in Southeast Asia and the South China Sea, we feel there is sufficient ground for the United States to re-examine the ‘one China’ policy,” Huang said at a news conference at the Capitol Hill Hotel in Washington, as NPP officials wrapped up a whirlwind tour of Europe and the US before the start of the fall legislative session.
The “one China” policy refers to the US’ policy on Taiwan as stated in the Shanghai Communique, in which the US “acknowledges” and “does not challenge” the position of “all Chinese on either side of the Taiwan Strait” that there is “one China, and Taiwan is a part of China.”
“We are not so naive as to expect changes in a day, or a short period of time, but at the very least, discussion can begin,” Huang said, citing increasing the level of official exchanges as one area where changes could be considered.
NPP officials met with numerous members of US Congress and experts from think tanks, but no representatives of the US’ executive branch, which Huang said were not arranged due to a lack of time.
According to Huang, the DPP declined offers of assistance in arranging meetings by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US, instead relying on the Formosan Association for Public Affairs, a Washington-based Taiwanese-American lobby group.
“After news got out of our plans, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reached out to us, but while we thanked them for their good intentions, we did not want to add to their burden,” he said.
The pan-blue background of some members of the foreign policy bureaucracy have led to distrust from pan-green politicians, with former national policy adviser Wu Li-pei (吳澧培) recently criticizing President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) appointment of David Lee (李大維) — a member of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), which has temporarily suspended his membership — as minister of foreign affairs.
In addition to expressing the NPP’s stance on sovereignty issues, the likelihood of ratification by the US of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and Taiwanese accession to the trade agreement were also discussed, said Huang, who avoided staking a position when asked about the possibility of relaxing restrictions on US meat imports.
“On US beef and pork, our position is that it is impossible to discuss either issue in isolation,” he said.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
RSS