The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) yesterday would not confirm a report that the US Department of State has requested that US Marines be posted at the AIT’s new complex in Taipei’s Neihu District (內湖).
“As is the practice at our current location, a small number of American personnel detailed to AIT along with a larger number of locally-hired employees will provide security for the new office building in cooperation with the local authorities,” an AIT official said in a text message to the Central News Agency, speaking on condition of anonymity.
A CNN report on Friday cited two unnamed US officials as saying that a request for a US Marine Corps security detachment was received several weeks ago, but has not been formally approved.
Coordination about its deployment is ongoing between the state department’s Diplomatic Security Service and the marines, the sources were cited as saying.
When asked about the matter at a news conference the same day, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Lu Kang (陸慷) said that Beijing’s “one China” principle is the political foundation of China-US relations, and that Washington should abide by its “one China” pledge and refrain from developing any official ties or engaging in military exchanges with Taiwan.
The AIT office is expected to officially relocate from Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) to the new facility in fall.
Posting marines at the new AIT compound in Taipei would signal warmer relations between the US and Taiwan.
Such a move by the US would carry “more political than military significance,” said Lin Ying-yu (林穎佑), an assistant professor at National Chung Cheng University’s Institute of Strategic and International Affairs.
Marines are usually posted only at official US facilities overseas, Lin said, adding that a detachment at the new AIT complex could be seen as a show of the importance attached by the US to Taiwan and a political signal to China.
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,
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Former Taiwan People’s Party chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) may apply to visit home following the death of his father this morning, the Taipei Detention Center said. Ko’s father, Ko Cheng-fa (柯承發), passed away at 8:40am today at the Hsinchu branch of National Taiwan University Hospital. He was 94 years old. The center said Ko Wen-je was welcome to apply, but declined to say whether it had already received an application. The center also provides psychological counseling to people in detention as needed, it added, also declining to comment on Ko Wen-je’s mental state. Ko Wen-je is being held in detention as he awaits trial
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