US Senator Cory Gardner on Wednesday said that Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) speech about Taiwan changes the “status quo” across the Taiwan Strait and is a warning to the US.
When asked by Taiwanese media about the address Xi gave on Wednesday last week, Gardner, chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific and International Cybersecurity Policy, said the US should adhere to its commitment to Taiwan.
The US’ Asia Reassurance Initiative Act contains significant language dedicated to the US’ relationship with Taiwan, including provisions to ensure arms sales and facilitate high-level visits to Taiwan from the US, he said.
Photo: AP
“We will continue to pursue those commitments and protections... Our commitment to our relationship with Taiwan is stronger than ever,” Gardner said,
Asked whether he would encourage President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to visit Washington, Gardner only said that he had met with Tsai when she made a transit stop in Los Angeles last year, and that he hopes similar arrangements could be made in the future.
Gardner had tweeted about Xi’s recent Taiwan policy speech and Tsai’s response, saying that he would soon resubmit the Taiwan Allies International Protection and Enhancement Initiative Act to the US Congress.
It authorizes the US Department of State to downgrade US relations with any government that takes adverse action regarding Taiwan, including suspending or altering foreign assistance, such as military funding.
Xi’s speech on Taiwan marked the 40th anniversary of a message Beijing sent to Taiwan in 1979 calling for unification and an end to military confrontation.
In the speech, Xi defined the so-called “1992 consensus” as “the two sides of the strait belonging to one China and working together to seek the unification of the nation.”
The “one country, two systems” formula is the best approach to achieving unification, he said.
Tsai afterward said that she has never and would never accepted the “1992 consensus,” as the phrase has been defined by China as “one country, two systems,” which leaves no room for interpretation.
The “1992 consensus” — a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) admitted making up in 2000 — refers to a tacit understanding between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party that both sides acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and “capital punishment.” They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
The Shanlan Express (山嵐號), or “Mountain Mist Express,” is scheduled to launch on April 19 as part of the centennial celebration of the inauguration of the Taitung Line. The tourism express train was renovated from the Taiwan Railway Corp’s EMU500 commuter trains. It has four carriages and a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Lion Travel is arranging railway tours for the express service. Several news outlets were invited to experience the pilot tour on the new express train service, which is to operate between Hualien Railway Station and Chihshang (池上) Railway Station in Taitung County. It would also be the first tourism service
‘MALIGN PURPOSE’: Governments around the world conduct espionage operations, but China’s is different, as its ultimate goal is annexation, a think tank head said Taiwan is facing a growing existential threat from its own people spying for China, experts said, as the government seeks to toughen measures to stop Beijing’s infiltration efforts and deter Taiwanese turncoats. While Beijing and Taipei have been spying on each other for years, experts said that espionage posed a bigger threat to Taiwan due to the risk of a Chinese attack. Taiwan’s intelligence agency said China used “diverse channels and tactics” to infiltrate the nation’s military, government agencies and pro-China organizations. The main targets were retired and active members of the military, persuaded by money, blackmail or pro-China ideology to steal
RSS