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.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to