President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday congratulated US president-elect Joe Biden on winning the US presidential election.
“Now it is my turn to extend congratulations to @JoeBiden & @KamalaHarris on being elected President & VP-elect. The values on which we have built our relationship could not be stronger. I look fwd to working together to further our friendship, & contributions to int’l society,” Tsai wrote on Twitter.
Tsai in the morning met with Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮), National Security Council Secretary-General Wellington Koo (顧立雄) and other national security officials to discuss the state of US-Taiwan relations, a source said.
They also contacted Representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) to hear her perspective on the issue, the source said.
Based on current indicators, the government is confident that US-Taiwan trade ties would remain stable under the new US administration, they added.
Although the incoming US Democratic Party administration has yet to formulate foreign-trade policies, information from congressional representatives across party lines, as well as think tanks, indicate that the US will maintain its trade relationship with Taiwan, the source said.
The US is also likely to continue selling weapons to Taiwan, as suggested by Democratic US representatives’ approval of such sales in the past, the source said, adding that an arms package with items important to Taiwan’s asymmetrical warfare capabilities have recently been approved.
Su said Taiwan-US relations would flourish under the Biden administration.
With years of friendship and partnership between Taiwan and the US, as well as the democratic values shared by the two sides, the Biden administration would definitely value Taiwan more, Su said in response to media queries.
Su sidestepped a question about progress on a trade deal with the US, saying instead that Taiwan’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic has allowed the country to continue to grow its economy.
The US has also spoken up for Taiwan on numerous occasions, and the two sides would work to further advance their relationship, he added.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) also congratulated Biden and US vice president-elect Kamala Harris on their victory.
“The KMT looks forward to a continued reciprocal and cooperative partnership between the US under the leadership of Mr. Biden and the Republic of China (Taiwan),” the KMT said in a statement, “as well as more constructive developments in international participation, trade, democracy, and security cooperation.”
“American people once again show the world how to make democracy work,” the KMT wrote on Twitter.
KMT Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) congratulated Biden and Harris on Twitter, writing: “We look fwd to enhancing the ROC (Taiwan)-US relations with your administration.”
Taiwan aims to open 18 representative offices and seven Taiwan Tourism Information Centers worldwide by next year to attract international visitors, the Tourism Administration said on Saturday. The agency has so far opened three representative offices abroad this year and would open two more before the end of the year, it said. It has also already opened information centers in Jakarta, Mumbai and Paris, and is to open one in Vancouver next month and in Manila in December, it said. Next year, it would also open offices in Amsterdam, Dubai and Sydney, it added. While the Cabinet did not mention international tourists in its
EYES AT SEA: Many marine enthusiasts have expressed interest in volunteering for coastal patrols, which would help identify stowaways and illegal fishing, the CGA said Six thousand coastal patrol volunteers are to be recruited for 159 inspection offices to enhance the nation’s response to “gray zone” conflicts, Coast Guard Administration (CGA) sources said yesterday. Volunteer teams would be established to increase the resilience of coastal defense systems in the wake of two unlawful entries attempted by Chinese over the past three months, Ocean Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said. A former Chinese navy captain drove a motorboat into the Tamsui River (淡水河) in Taipei on the eve of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, while another Chinese man sailed in a rubber boat into the Houkeng
NEXT LEVEL: The defense ministry confirmed that a video released last month featured personnel piloting new FPV drone systems being developed by the Armaments Bureau Taipei and Washington are pushing for their drone companies to work together to establish a China-free supply chain, the Financial Times reported on Friday. A delegation of high-level executives and US government officials were yesterday to arrive in Taipei to discuss with their Taiwanese counterparts collaboration on drone technology procurement and development, the report said. The executives represent 26 US manufacturers of drone and counter-drone systems, while the officials are from the US Department of Commerce and the US Department of Defense’s Defense Innovation Unit, along with Dev Shenoy, principal director for microelectronics in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense
‘ANONYMOUS 64’: A national security official said that it is an attempt by China to increase domestic anti-Taiwanese sentiment and inflame cross-strait tensions The Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM) yesterday denied accusations by China that it had undermined regional security by carrying out cyberattacks against targets in China, adding instead that Beijing was responsible for raising tensions and undermining regional peace. The Chinese Ministry of State Security on WeChat accused a hacker group called “Anonymous 64” of targeting China, Hong Kong and Macau starting earlier this year through frequent cyberattacks. The group carried out cyberattacks to seize control of Web sites, outdoor electronic billboards and video-on-demand platforms in China, Hong Kong and Macau, it said, adding the hackers’