The chance of US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) signing a fourth US-China communique when they meet next month is very unlikely, a former US Department of State official said yesterday in Taipei.
“The information I have is that there is no plan for a fourth communique, so I don’t expect they will produce one in this meeting,” former US deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Randall Schriver said.
Schriver, who now serves as president of the Project 2049 Institute, a US think tank focusing on security issues in Asia, said that while he expects that Trump and Xi would talk about the US’ “one China” policy during their meeting, the US president is likely to also underscore the importance of the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) and the “six assurances.”
Photo: Lu Yi-hsuan, Taipei Times
He also expressed the hope that any conclusions of the Trump-Xi meeting would include “all the right things” about Taiwan and Washington’s important relationship with Taipei.
The three joint communiques — the Shanghai one of 1972, the one establishing diplomatic relations in 1978 and the one from 1982 — have provided the basic framework for Washington’s relations with Beijing since then-US president Richard Nixon’s historic visit to China in 1972.
The TRA came into force in 1979. Three years later, then-US president Ronald Reagan issued what were later known as the “six assurances” to ensure Taiwan that it would not be abandoned.
Turning to Taiwan’s national security, Schriver said having watched closely the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) modernization, he believes the US should assist in making weapons more available to Taiwan to address its security needs.
However, Schriver dismissed the possibility of the US also deploying to Taiwan a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense system (THAAD), a system that recently arrived in South Korea, angering China.
Saying he was not aware of such a plan, Schriver said that Taiwan faces different threats in terms of ballistic and cruise missiles compared with South Korean and US forces in South Korea or Japan.
“I am not a technical expert, but I don’t know that THAAD would even be the appropriate system for Taiwan and Taiwan security needs,” Schriver said.
However, there is a need to think about strong missile defense and protection for Taiwan given the missile threats it faces, he said.
Presidential Office spokesman Sidney Lin (林鶴明) said the government will closely watch any developments regarding the Trump-Xi meeting, adding: “The US is Taiwan’s most important ally… As a member of the international community, we will continue to develop a stronger partnership with Washington in the hope of jointly contributing to regional peace, stability and welfare.”
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) yesterday appealed to the authorities to release former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) from pretrial detention amid conflicting reports about his health. The TPP at a news conference on Thursday said that Ko should be released to a hospital for treatment, adding that he has blood in his urine and had spells of pain and nausea followed by vomiting over the past three months. Hsieh Yen-yau (謝炎堯), a retired professor of internal medicine and Ko’s former teacher, said that Ko’s symptoms aligned with gallstones, kidney inflammation and potentially dangerous heart conditions. Ko, charged with