The US’ top diplomat in France on Friday met with his Taiwanese counterpart at the US ambassador’s official residence, in a first since formal ties between the countries were severed in 1979.
The lunch meeting between Brian Aggeler, interim charge d’affaires at the US embassy in Paris, and Representative to France Francois Wu (吳志中) was announced in a post on the US embassy’s Twitter account.
At the meeting, Aggeler talked with Wu about “the long-standing friendship between the peoples of the United States and Taiwan, our common democratic values and the importance of Taiwan for the security and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific,” the embassy wrote on Twitter.
Aggeler also reportedly reiterated the US’ support for Taiwan’s participation in the WHO and other international organizations, while Wu expressed hope that the countries would continue to enhance their relationship on the basis of their shared democratic values, the embassy said.
The envoys’ meeting came just weeks after the US Department of State issued new guidelines encouraging federal officials to meet with their Taiwanese counterparts, a move it said reflected the two sides’ deepening bilateral relationship.
Wu said the meeting showed the growing “normalization” of Taiwan’s interactions with its international partners.
“The US, from [former US secretary of state] Mike Pompeo to [US Secretary of State] Antony Blinken, has shown that it will no longer accept the threatening behavior that China has used in the past” to discourage interactions with Taiwan, Wu said.
Taiwan’s and the US’ top officials in Japan in March met at the US ambassador’s residence, while then-US ambassador to the Netherlands Pete Hoekstra in January hosted his Taiwanese counterpart, Chen Hsing-hsing (陳欣新), at the US embassy in The Hague.
INVESTIGATION: The case is the latest instance of a DPP figure being implicated in an espionage network accused of allegedly leaking information to Chinese intelligence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) member Ho Jen-chieh (何仁傑) was detained and held incommunicado yesterday on suspicion of spying for China during his tenure as assistant to then-minister of foreign affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮). The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said Ho was implicated during its investigation into alleged spying activities by former Presidential Office consultant Wu Shang-yu (吳尚雨). Prosecutors said there is reason to believe Ho breached the National Security Act (國家安全法) by leaking classified Ministry of Foreign Affairs information to Chinese intelligence. Following interrogation, prosecutors petitioned the Taipei District Court to detain Ho, citing concerns over potential collusion or tampering of evidence. The
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
Seventy percent of middle and elementary schools now conduct English classes entirely in English, the Ministry of Education said, as it encourages schools nationwide to adopt this practice Minister of Education (MOE) Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) is scheduled to present a report on the government’s bilingual education policy to the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee today. The report would outline strategies aimed at expanding access to education, reducing regional disparities and improving talent cultivation. Implementation of bilingual education policies has varied across local governments, occasionally drawing public criticism. For example, some schools have required teachers of non-English subjects to pass English proficiency
TRADE: The premier pledged safeguards on ‘Made in Taiwan’ labeling, anti-dumping measures and stricter export controls to strengthen its position in trade talks Products labeled “made in Taiwan” must be genuinely made in Taiwan, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday, vowing to enforce strict safeguards against “origin laundering” and initiate anti-dumping investigations to prevent China dumping its products in Taiwan. Cho made the remarks in a discussion session with representatives from industries in Kaohsiung. In response to the US government’s recent announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on its trading partners, President William Lai (賴清德) and Cho last week began a series of consultations with industry leaders nationwide to gather feedback and address concerns. Taiwanese and US officials held a videoconference on Friday evening to discuss the
RSS