The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday declined to comment after former White House national security adviser John Bolton questioned US President Donald Trump’s commitment to Taiwan.
In his book The Room Where it Happened: A White House Memoir, Bolton wrote that Trump had sought the help of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) for his re-election bid in November and that the president was “particularly dyspeptic” about Taiwan.
Trump often compared Taiwan to the tip of his Sharpies pen and China to his Resolute desk, he wrote.
Xi had urged the Trump administration not to allow President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to travel to the US or to sell arms to Taiwan, while US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo once held back a congressional notification on an F-16 sale to Taiwan as he was worried that Trump might refuse to proceed with it, Bolton wrote.
Bolton served as national security adviser from April 2018 to September last year.
Asked to comment on Bolton’s book, ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) at a regular news briefing in Taipei yesterday said that the ministry had no comment on the publication of the book, while reaffirming strong Taiwan-US ties.
Since Trump took office in January 2017, the US has repeatedly reiterated its commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act and the “six assurances,” while approving six arms sales, including a package that includes MK-48 Heavy Weight Torpedoes that was announced last month, she said.
Both nations have continued to boost their interactions, as demonstrated by Tsai’s transits in New York and Denver in July last year on her way to four Caribbean allies, she added.
Tsai’s transits in the two cities marked the longest time that a Taiwanese president had stayed in the US, Ou said.
Tsai also attended events at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office alongside allies’ permanent representatives to the UN, also a breakthrough, she said.
The nation would continue to deepen its partnerships with the US based on mutual trust, she added.
Twenty-four Republican members of the US House of Representatives yesterday introduced a concurrent resolution calling on the US government to abolish the “one China” policy and restore formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Led by US representatives Tom Tiffany and Scott Perry, the resolution calls for not only re-establishing formal relations, but also urges the US Trade Representative to negotiate a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan and for US officials to advocate for Taiwan’s full membership in the UN and other international organizations. In a news release announcing the resolution, Tiffany, who represents a Wisconsin district, called the “one China” policy “outdated, counterproductive
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “(we) appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
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