US President Donald Trump and President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), as well as Cabinet-level officials from Taiwan and the US, should meet each other to discuss issues of mutual interest, former US deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage said in a paper published by US think tank Project 2049 on Friday.
In a paper titled US-Taiwan Relations in a Sea of Change: Navigating Toward a Brighter Future, coauthored with Ian Easton and Mark Stokes, Armitage made policy recommendations for US-Taiwan relations, one of which is that Trump and Tsai should have a face-to-face meeting.
Such a meeting should address issues of shared interest and concern, the paper said, adding that it would shatter practice since 1979, when the two nations severed official diplomatic ties.
It would also have far greater implications for the US, Taiwan and China than the telephone call between Tsai and Trump on Dec. 2, 2016, when Trump was still president-elect, the paper said.
The recommendation is in line with the Taiwan Travel Act, which was signed into law by Trump on Friday and encourages bilateral visits between government officials at all levels.
Other policy recommendations all addressed how the US could be more active in its relationship with Taiwan.
“The Trump administration should convene an interagency policy working group to evaluate how best to achieve a normal, stable and constructive relationship with Taiwan over the long term,” the paper said.
The US government should also begin negotiating a free trade agreement with Taiwan that is “equal or better than the ones it already has with South Korea, Singapore and Australia,” it added.
The Trump administration should routinize the process of addressing Taiwan’s requests for arms sales and commercial export licenses to assist Taiwan’s indigenous submarine program, and provide timely responses, the paper said.
The US government should base arms sales decisions “solely on considerations of Taiwan’s strategic and operation requirements, which are inherently defensive in nature,” it said.
“Beijing should not be consulted in advance of arms sales to Taiwan,” the paper said, adding that “meeting commitments to regional stability should be considered a more important priority” than US-China diplomatic exchanges.
The paper also said that the Trump administration should “develop and implement a joint workplan for bilateral defense and security relations.”
“Deepened and broadened defense interactions with Taiwan could include training and exercises, modest ports of call in support of humanitarian assistance and disaster relief missions, and regular exchanges of military officers with joint command experience,” it added.
The US Department of State should launch a new initiative to increase the number of exchanges with Taiwan, especially ones pertaining to education and culture, the paper said.
The paper also recommended establishing a “US national committee on US-Taiwan relations” to encourage understanding between Americans and Taiwanese.
Finally, the Trump administration should develop and implement US-Taiwan bilateral working groups on supply chain security and defense industry cooperation “to ensure that the cutting-edge technologies of tomorrow are harnessed for advancing shared values and interests,” the paper said.
Additional reporting by CNA
People can take the Taipei MRT free of charge if they access it at Nanjing Sanmin Station or Taipei Arena Station on the Green Line between 12am and 6am on Jan. 1, the Taipei Department of Transportation said on Friday, outlining its plans to ease crowding during New Year’s events in the capital. More than 200,000 people are expected to attend New Year’s Eve events in Taipei, with singer A-mei (張惠妹) performing at the Taipei Dome and the city government’s New Year’s Eve party at Taipei City Hall Plaza, the department said. As people have tended to use the MRT’s Blue or
Civil society groups yesterday protested outside the Legislative Yuan, decrying Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) efforts to pass three major bills that they said would seriously harm Taiwan’s democracy, and called to oust KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁). It was the second night of the three-day “Bluebird wintertime action” protests in Taipei, with organizers announcing that 8,000 people attended. Organized by Taiwan Citizen Front, the Economic Democracy Union (EDU) and a coalition of civil groups, about 6,000 people began a demonstration in front of KMT party headquarters in Taipei on Wednesday, organizers said. For the third day, the organizers asked people to assemble
Taipei is participating in Osaka’s Festival of Lights this year, with a 3m-tall bubble tea light installation symbolizing Taiwan’s bubble tea culture. The installation is designed as a bubble tea cup and features illustrations of Taipei’s iconic landmarks, such as Taipei 101, the Red House and North Gate, as well as soup dumplings and the matchmaking deity the Old Man Under the Moon (月下老人), affectionately known as Yue Lao (月老). Taipei and Osaka have collaborated closely on tourism and culture since Taipei first participated in the festival in 2018, the Taipei City Department of Information and Tourism said. In February, Osaka represented
Taiwanese professional baseball should update sports stadiums and boost engagement to enhance fans’ experience, Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) commissioner Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) in an interview on Friday. The league has urged Farglory Group and the Taipei City Government to improve the Taipei Dome’s outdated equipment, including relatively rudimentary television and sound systems, and poor technology, he said. The Tokyo Dome has markedly better television and sound systems, despite being 30 years old, because its managers continually upgraded its equipment, Tsai said. In contrast, the Taipei Dome lacked even a room for referees
RSS