The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday thanked US lawmakers after a congressional task force published a report suggesting that the US government initiate trade negotiations with Taiwan and pass legislation to boost bilateral relations as soon as possible.
Taiwan would continue efforts to deepen ties with the US, the ministry said, after the US House of Representatives’ China Task Force on Wednesday published a report that highlighted threats that Beijing poses to the US.
“Taiwan is a bona fide democracy and a de facto sovereign nation, and US security ally,” the report said. “Taiwan is a critical focal point in the free world’s confrontation with the CCP [Chinese Communist Party], and under a more direct threat of CCP armed aggression than any other US partner.”
Photo: AFP
“The [US] administration should allow Taiwan to change the name of its diplomatic office to the ‘Taiwan Representative Office’ or a similar title,” it said. “Taiwan’s primary diplomatic organization inside the US is currently called the ‘Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office,’ an anachronistic title that does not reflect the fact that the US enjoys broad, substantial relations with all of Taiwan, not just its capital city.”
The US Congress should “support Taiwan’s acquisition of asymmetric capabilities for self-defense and the implementation of its Overall Defense Concept,” and continue to approve sales of arms to it as part of efforts to fulfill long-term US security commitments, it said.
“The CCP’s economic system is threatening US national security and foreign policy interests,” the report said, adding that China’s “unfair trade practices pose particular challenges because they systematically undermine fair competition and create damaging global overcapacity through grossly distorting subsidization, IP [intellectual property] theft, forced technology transfer, localization policies, and the use of state-owned enterprises to outcompete US companies.”
The administration should “deepen our trade ties with Taiwan and resolve specific outstanding trade issues so the administration can take steps to launch trade agreement negotiations once those issues are addressed,” it said.
The US Congress should pass the Taiwan Symbols of Sovereignty Act, the Taiwan Fellowship Act and the Taiwan Non-Discrimination Act, as well as ensure final passage of the Taiwan Assurance Act, it said.
Ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) yesterday thanked the US lawmakers for their calls for the US government to take concrete action to deepen bilateral ties.
The ministry would communicate with US administrative agencies and US representatives to advance the friendship, Ou said.
The task force, established by 15 Republicans this year, is chaired by US Representative Michael McCaul.
The report also touched upon topics such as sanctions against Chinese telecommunications companies allegedly engaged in economic or industrial espionage in the US, evaluations of Beijing’s crackdown on Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang and whether the oppression constitutes genocide, and the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as Beijing’s failures to contain the novel coronavirus in its early stages.
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS