A bipartisan group of US lawmakers has praised Taiwan for its determination to uphold democracy, Vice President William Lai (賴清德) said on Tuesday during a stopover in Los Angeles en route to Honduran president-elect Xiomara Castro’s inauguration.
Several lawmakers at an online meeting with 17 members of the US Congress earlier that day praised Taiwan for sticking to democracy, Lai told the Taiwanese community in Los Angeles via a videoconference.
They hailed the nation for not bowing to pressure from China, despite Beijing sending warplanes into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone and conducting disinformation campaigns, Lai said.
Photo: CNA
Representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴), who also attended the meeting with lawmakers, said that Lai spoke to several groups of them during about 10 hours of videoconferencing.
“Supporting Taiwan has become a common language in the US Congress,” Hsiao said, adding that a member of the US House of Representatives told Lai that the House rarely reaches a cross-party consensus such as that on supporting Taiwan.
In addition to welcoming Lai, US representatives from California, Arizona and Utah told him about their administrative achievements in support of Taiwan, Hsiao said.
They expressed concerns on issues such as cross-strait security, Taiwan’s national defense, bilateral trade and economic ties between Taiwan and the US, global supply chains, supporting the nation in its efforts to participate in international organizations, and Taiwan-US cooperation on technology development, Hsiao said.
Lai told the lawmakers that President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) attaches great importance to Taiwan-US relations, Hsiao said.
The vice president highlighted the shared values and common interest between the US and Taiwan, particularly in ensuring security, stability and economic development in the Indo-Pacific region, she added.
US Senator Edward Markey, who chairs the US Senate Subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific and International Cybersecurity Policy, and US Representative Mark Takano, who chairs the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, were among the lawmakers present during the online meeting, Hsiao said.
Others in attendance were US Representative John Curtis, who served as a missionary in Taiwan 40 years ago, and US Representative Burgess Owens, a former professional American football player who in 1980 won the Super Bowl with the Oakland Raiders, Hsiao said.
Asked whether other video conferences with US officials had been arranged for Lai, Hsiao did not respond.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS