President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) congratulatory telephone call to US president-elect Donald Trump on Friday has been described by two former US officials as a positive development in the ties between the two nations.
The call not only carried symbolic weight, but also had strategic significance for the incoming US administration regarding trade talks with Taiwan, said Stephen Yates, an expert on Asia who served as deputy national security adviser to former US vice president Dick Cheney.
In an interview on Sunday on Voice of America, Yates said he was certain that during the call, Trump addressed Tsai as president of Taiwan because she is Taiwan’s president, a reality that some people in the US and China deny.
Photo: CNA
Trump knows well how to separate the symbolic and the substantial meanings of the congratulatory call, said Yates, chairman of the Idaho Republican Party, who is scheduled to visit Taiwan this week to meet with business clients.
Yates said that Trump had issued a news release on the 10-minute phone conversation with Tsai and also tweeted about it, mentioning US arms sales to Taiwan.
One of the main speculations was whether Trump planned to break with the US’ “one China” policy, which was adopted in 1979 after Washington switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing.
Yates said that Trump’s tweets indicate that he probably placed more value on the strategic importance of the call with regard to US arms exports than on symbolic issues and criticisms of the call.
Taiwanese could sense Trump’s happiness and pleasure at receiving the call from their president, but they should remember that Trump loves the US and that US interests will be his top priority, Yates said.
Trump’s aims include selling more arms to Taiwan to deter China’s military threats and negotiating trade deals with Taiwan, he said.
Trump’s Taiwan policy might prove a political challenge to Taiwan’s government and an even bigger one to Chinese leaders, Yates said.
If China is infuriated about the call and sees it as a strategic threat by the US or Taiwan, that is Beijing’s problem, Yates said.
He suggested that China follow Trump’s example and show respect for Taiwan’s democratization and political reforms.
Former American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) director William Stanton yesterday said in a radio newscast in Taipei that he thought the call was a positive development in Taiwan-US relations.
Stanton said he thought the call was prearranged and he expressed the view that Washington should have made such a move earlier.
Commenting on a White House statement issued after the call, Stanton said he did not agree with the administration’s response that it remained “firmly committed” to its “one China” policy.
“One China” should not be overly simplified because the US and China each have different interpretations of the policy, and the US has never said that China has sovereignty over Taiwan, he said.
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
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
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
Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢), a Taiwanese businessman and deputy convener of the nation’s National Climate Change Committee, said yesterday that “electrical power is national power” and nuclear energy is “very important to Taiwan.” Tung made the remarks, suggesting that his views do not align with the country’s current official policy of phasing out nuclear energy, at a forum organized by the Taiwan People’s Party titled “Challenges and Prospects of Taiwan’s AI Industry and Energy Policy.” “Taiwan is currently pursuing industries with high added- value and is developing vigorously, and this all requires electricity,” said the chairman
RSS