Nearly 20 organizations yesterday called on President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to use the opportunity afforded by US Ambassador to the UN Kelly Craft’s visit this week to pursue US support for Taiwan’s participation in the UN.
The groups, including the Taiwan United Nations Alliance and the World United Formosans for Independence, held a news conference at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei ahead of Craft’s visit from today to Friday.
She is to be the first US ambassador to the UN to visit since 1968, as well as the first US official to visit since US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Saturday announced the removal of all self-imposed guidelines on interactions with Taiwan.
Photo: CNA
Hopefully, Tsai would use this further normalization of ties to push for the nation’s representative office in the US to be renamed, as well as US support for its participation in international organizations, Taiwan United Nations Alliance honorary chairman Michael Tsai (蔡明憲) said.
Pompeo’s decision was akin to a new start in Taiwan-US ties and could have long-ranging effects, he said.
It could also give US president-elect Joe Biden more bargaining chips when he assumes office on Wednesday next week, he said.
World United Formosans for Independence chairman Twu Shiing-jer (涂醒哲) said that Craft’s visit has invigorated Taiwanese, giving them a glimpse of a “new dawn.”
While meeting with the ambassador, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) should convey the wish of Taiwanese to join the UN and other international organizations, so she would be able to address them on the nation’s behalf, Twu said.
Coupled with Pompeo’s lifting of restrictions, Twu said he believes that Taiwan-US relations would reach a new height.
“‘UN to Taiwan’ has already been realized,” he said. “The next step is ‘Taiwan to UN.’”
The New Power Party (NPP) earlier in the morning held its own news conference at the party’s caucus office at the legislature to urge Craft to publicly support an official visit to Washington by the minister of foreign affairs.
The party has four main requests, NPP Legislator Claire Wang (王婉諭) said.
Aside from a state visit by the foreign minister, the NPP also urged the US to take concrete steps to support Taiwan’s participation at the World Health Assembly in May and the UN General Assembly in September, she said.
To build upon visits by high-ranking US officials last year, the party also asked that Craft support a visit to Taiwan by the US secretary of state, Wang said.
Lastly, the NPP asked that Craft support regular reciprocal visits by trade, health and defense officials, she said.
NPP chairwoman Chen Jiau-hua (陳椒華) lauded the significance of Craft’s visit, saying that she hopes the party would have an opportunity to interact with the ambassador.
She praised Pompeo’s decision and expressed optimism that Tsai Ing-wen would have the chance to visit Washington before her term expires.
Craft is to “pay a courtesy call” to Tsai Ing-wen tomorrow, Wu said on Monday.
Wu said that he is also to meet Craft tomorrow, when she is scheduled to give a speech at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Institute of Diplomacy and International Affairs.
“The main purpose of her visit is to discuss how to reinforce the US government’s support for Taiwan’s international participation, which is very important to us,” he said.
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.
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry
RSS