President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said in a recent interview with CNN that her decision on whether to accept an invitation to address the US Congress would depend on three major considerations.
While ties with the US improved after US President Donald Trump took office in January 2017, in the interview with CNN correspondent Matt Rivers on Monday, Tsai said that it was not a simple decision to make and would require “comprehensive consideration.”
“From our perspective, would we accept such an invitation if it were extended? We would have to look at it from several angles,” Tsai said.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
Tsai laid out three major considerations: “Would delivering an address in Washington DC be in the interests of Taiwan, benefit Taiwan-US relations, and serve peace and stability in the region?”
On Feb. 7, a group of US senators wrote a joint letter to US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, calling on her to invite Tsai to address a joint session of the US Congress.
The letter was signed by Cory Gardner, Marco Rubio, Tom Cotton, John Cornyn and Ted Cruz.
Some US politicians have opposed the proposal, with former American Institute in Taiwan chairman Richard Bush saying that it was flawed, as it would not be conducive to US relations with China and would hurt Taiwan.
Former US deputy assistant secretary of state Susan Shirk even said the proposal was a “huge mistake,” adding that it would be highly irresponsible for Trump to use Taiwan as leverage in dealing with China.
Tsai, who came to power in May 2016, also said in the interview that she intended to seek re-election next year.
According to CNN, Tsai, throughout the interview, painted the picture that Taiwan was facing down the growing might of China.
Last month, Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) called for the peaceful unification of China and Taiwan, but declined to discount the use of force.
“Chairman Xi Jinping’s New Year’s address alerted Taiwan to the fact that its independent existence could be changed, because Xi has started to talk about unification and the ‘one country, two systems’ concept,” Tsai told CNN.
When asked “if China invaded tomorrow, would you count on the US military to be there?” Tsai said that Taiwan has been strengthening its military capability.
“Our defenses are well-prepared for an attack at any time — for any situation where we would need to fend China off for 24 hours,” Tsai said. “So we would hope that after withstanding any first wave of attacks ourselves, other countries throughout the world would stand up in unison and put strong pressure upon China in response.”
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,
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
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
RSS