A US congressional delegation yesterday pledged to support Taiwan’s bid to purchase defense equipment from the US during a visit that they said demonstrated their love for Taipei, as well as Washington’s continued presence in the Asia-Pacific region.
The 19-member delegation led by US Senator James Inhofe, cochair of the US Senate Taiwan Caucus, includes three other senators and one congressman who serve on the US Senate’s and House of Representatives’ armed services committees.
The delegation arrived in Taiwan on Tuesday for a three-day visit, during which its members are to meet with high-level government officials to enhance their understanding of Taiwan-US ties and regional security issues, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
Photo: Huang Yao-cheng, Taipei Times
As Taiwan-US ties have been called into question after the removal of Republic of China flags from several US government Web sites since September last year, reporters asked delegation members why they chose to visit Taiwan at this time.
“We are here because of our love for Taiwan and we see there are threats in this part of the world. We are very much concerned about our freedom here, as well as your freedom here. This is a very important area for us to be going around in,” Inhofe told an outdoor news conference at the Taipei Guest House.
Inhofe said they met with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) — whom he said he “loves very much” — yesterday morning, when they talked about energy, a major export item of the US.
Turning to military issues, he said Taiwan and the US see many mutual needs and that it was not a one-way street.
“There are some armaments [that] will be helpful to Taiwan, and certainly they have our fullest cooperation. [We] anticipate that our interests are the same,” Inhofe said, adding that many US defense contractors want to deal with Taiwan.
“We just want to give you the reassurance that the love we have for Taiwan has been consistent. It has never slowed down and never will,” he said.
Another purpose of the trip is to demonstrate something that is very obvious, but not always acknowledged: the US is an Asia-Pacific country, US Senator Daniel Sullivan said.
“America is an Asia-Pacific country. We are an Asia-Pacific power. We have been for over 200 years and we will be here for another 200 years,” Sullivan said.
“We have allies that we have built up in this region of the world for decades and one of the most important allies is Taiwan,” he added.
Asked what kind of role Taiwan can play in US President Donald Trump’s Indo-Pacific strategy, he said the strategy was not only about deepening Washington’s relationship with its current allies, like Taiwan, but also about broadening its alliance with other nations in the region.
“Again, Taiwan has been a critical ally for decades, but a lot of it is [based on] shared values, too... There is a lot in the [US] president’s strategy, which we are all supportive of, that I think will certainly include countries like Taiwan,” Sullivan said.
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
Ferry operators are planning to provide a total of 1,429 journeys between Taiwan proper and its offshore islands to meet increased travel demand during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, the Maritime and Port Bureau said yesterday. The available number of ferry journeys on eight routes from Saturday next week to Feb. 2 is expected to meet a maximum transport capacity of 289,414 passengers, the bureau said in a news release. Meanwhile, a total of 396 journeys on the "small three links," which are direct ferries connecting Taiwan's Kinmen and Lienchiang counties with China's Fujian Province, are also being planned to accommodate
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
RSS