A group of US representatives has called on US President Joe Biden to visit Taiwan during his upcoming trip to Asia as a show of the US’ commitment to the nation amid China’s “bullying.”
Biden is slated to visit South Korea and Japan from Friday to May 24 — his first visit to Asia as president.
Biden is to hold talks with his Korean and Japanese counterparts, as well as meet with the leaders of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue during his stay in Tokyo, the White House said.
Photo: AFP
In light of frequent incursions into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone by Chinese warplanes, the inclusion of Taiwan in Biden’s itinerary would demonstrate what his administration has called its “rock-solid commitment to Taiwan,” said a letter to Biden dated Thursday and jointly signed by nine US representatives.
Such a visit would also show the administration’s support for the Taiwan Relations Act, the letter said, adding that the White House has been sending mixed messages about Taiwan.
The act requires the US to provide Taiwan with weapons for self-defense and expand economic cooperation with the nation, but the letter said that the representatives were troubled by indications that the administration might delay delivery of M109A6 Paladin self-propelled howitzers and shoulder-fired Stinger anti-aircraft missiles to Taiwan, as well as by US Trade Representative Katherine Tai’s (戴琪) refusal to commit to Taiwan’s inclusion in the planned Indo-Pacific Economic Framework.
“We are also concerned that it may reward — and further encourage — China’s relentless campaign of bullying to isolate Taiwan,” the letter said.
Citing the Taiwan Travel Act, which encourages high-ranking US officials to visit Taiwan and meet with their counterparts, the lawmakers called on Biden to visit Taiwan to be “consistent with the spirit of that law.”
The letter was signed by US representatives Tom Tiffany, Scott Perry, Nancy Mace, Louie Gohmert, Lisa McClain, Pete Stauber, Michelle Steel, Bob Good and Ronny Jackson.
Taiwanese can file complaints with the Tourism Administration to report travel agencies if their activities caused termination of a person’s citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday, after a podcaster highlighted a case in which a person’s citizenship was canceled for receiving a single-use Chinese passport to enter Russia. The council is aware of incidents in which people who signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of Russia were told they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, Chiu told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Taipei. However, the travel agencies actually applied
Japanese footwear brand Onitsuka Tiger today issued a public apology and said it has suspended an employee amid allegations that the staff member discriminated against a Vietnamese customer at its Taipei 101 store. Posting on the social media platform Threads yesterday, a user said that an employee at the store said that “those shoes are very expensive” when her friend, who is a migrant worker from Vietnam, asked for assistance. The employee then ignored her until she asked again, to which she replied: "We don't have a size 37." The post had amassed nearly 26,000 likes and 916 comments as of this
New measures aimed at making Taiwan more attractive to foreign professionals came into effect this month, the National Development Council said yesterday. Among the changes, international students at Taiwanese universities would be able to work in Taiwan without a work permit in the two years after they graduate, explainer materials provided by the council said. In addition, foreign nationals who graduated from one of the world’s top 200 universities within the past five years can also apply for a two-year open work permit. Previously, those graduates would have needed to apply for a work permit using point-based criteria or have a Taiwanese company
The Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted two Taiwanese and issued a wanted notice for Pete Liu (劉作虎), founder of Shenzhen-based smartphone manufacturer OnePlus Technology Co (萬普拉斯科技), for allegedly contravening the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) by poaching 70 engineers in Taiwan. Liu allegedly traveled to Taiwan at the end of 2014 and met with a Taiwanese man surnamed Lin (林) to discuss establishing a mobile software research and development (R&D) team in Taiwan, prosecutors said. Without approval from the government, Lin, following Liu’s instructions, recruited more than 70 software
RSS