Members of the US House of Representatives’ Congressional Taiwan Caucus on Friday issued a bilateral statement condemning China’s 22 guidelines targeting Taiwanese as an act that severely threatens regional stability and peace.
Congressional Taiwan Caucus cochairs Ami Bera, Gerald Connolly, Andy Barr and Mario Diaz-Balart said in a statement that “this escalatory move by Beijing represents a significant threat to peace and stability in the region.”
The guidelines would “have a severe chilling effect on exchanges with China” and represent “a destabilizing policy approach to cross-strait relations,” they said.
Photo: screen grab from Mario Diaz-Balart’s X account
“The Congressional Taiwan Caucus will continue to stand with our key democratic partner, Taiwan, as it faces an increasingly belligerent and dangerous” People’s Republic of China, the statement said.
Late last month, China issued the 22-point set of “guidelines” to penalize “die-hard” Taiwanese independence separatists, including with the death penalty.
US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink had said during a congressional testimony session on June 27 that Beijing was pushing for extraterritorial jurisdiction in a “worrisome way” that would create a chilling effect on cross-strait dialogue and interaction.
That same day, the Mainland Affairs Council issued a travel advisory that upgraded the warning for travel to China, Hong Kong and Macau to orange from yellow, and urged Taiwanese to refrain from traveling there unless absolutely necessary.
Separately, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office on Friday said that four types of actions could be considered separatist crimes.
First, starting or establishing a pro-Taiwanese independence organization to plan and engage in plans to “split” the country and damage ‘national unity,” it said.
Second, drafting or amending legislation to clarify or annul regulations or referendum voting methods regarding the “Taiwan area” to undermine the legality of Taiwan being part of China.
Third, campaigning for Taiwan to join international bodies limited to the participation of sovereign states, or making contact with other countries, diplomatically or militarily, to create the semblance of “two Chinas,” “one China, one Taiwan” or an “independent Taiwan.”
Last, a person using their position to alter the “fact” that “Taiwan is a part of China” through cultural or historical education, or through news and media, or acts of oppressing parties, groups and individuals supporting the peaceful development and unification of China and Taiwan, the office said.
ENDEAVOR MANTA: The ship is programmed to automatically return to its designated home port and would self-destruct if seized by another party The Endeavor Manta, Taiwan’s first military-specification uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) tailor-made to operate in the Taiwan Strait in a bid to bolster the nation’s asymmetric combat capabilities made its first appearance at Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor yesterday. Taking inspiration from Ukraine’s navy, which is using USVs to force Russia’s Black Sea fleet to take shelter within its own ports, CSBC Taiwan (台灣國際造船) established a research and development unit on USVs last year, CSBC chairman Huang Cheng-hung (黃正弘) said. With the exception of the satellite guidance system and the outboard motors — which were purchased from foreign companies that were not affiliated with Chinese-funded
PERMIT REVOKED: The influencer at a news conference said the National Immigration Agency was infringing on human rights and persecuting Chinese spouses Chinese influencer “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣) yesterday evening voluntarily left Taiwan, despite saying yesterday morning that she had “no intention” of leaving after her residence permit was revoked over her comments on Taiwan being “unified” with China by military force. The Ministry of the Interior yesterday had said that it could forcibly deport the influencer at midnight, but was considering taking a more flexible approach and beginning procedures this morning. The influencer, whose given name is Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), departed on a 8:45pm flight from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to Fuzhou, China. Liu held a news conference at the airport at 7pm,
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
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 —