Washington has been in talks with Taipei for the past few weeks in preparation for the unveiling of its China strategy yesterday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
Communications between the US and Taiwan were “intense” in the run-up to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s speech on China policy at George Washington University, the ministry said.
The contents of those discussions are being kept private, ministry deputy spokesman Tsuei Ching-lin (崔靜麟) said at a news conference.
Photo: Lu Yi-hsuan, Taipei Times
Blinken outlined US President Joe Biden administration’s policy toward China at the university at 10am yesterday in Washington.
The speech, which had been postponed from early last month after Blinken tested positive for COVID-19, came on the heels of Biden’s trip to Asia this week, which ended on Tuesday, and was reportedly aimed at reinvigorating relationships with US allies to counter China’s influence in the region.
During Biden’s visit to Japan, he said in response to a reporter’s question that the US would intervene militarily if China were to attack Taiwan.
Biden’s off-the-cuff remark was interpreted by some people as a more open commitment of US intervention, or “strategic clarity,” and a deviation from the US’ policy of “strategic ambiguity,” which allows it to remain vague about its response to a potential attack on Taiwan by China.
However, Biden on Tuesday said that the US policy of strategic ambiguity on Taiwan “has not changed at all,” after he met with his colleagues at the leaders’ summit of the Quad nations, including prime ministers Fumio Kishida of Japan, Anthony Albanese of Australia and Narendra Modi of India.
An undersea cable to Penghu County has been severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today, with a Chinese-funded ship suspected of being responsible. It comes just a month after a Chinese ship was suspected of severing an undersea cable north of Keelung Harbor. The National Communications and Cyber Security Center received a report at 3:03am today from Chunghwa Telecom that the No. 3 cable from Taiwan to Penghu was severed 14.7km off the coast of Tainan, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) upon receiving a report from Chunghwa Telecom began to monitor the Togolese-flagged Hong Tai (宏泰)
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
Taiwan on Friday said a New Zealand hamburger restaurant has apologized for a racist remark to a Taiwanese customer after reports that it had first apologized to China sparked outrage in Taiwan. An image posted on Threads by a Taiwanese who ate at Fergburger in Queenstown showed that their receipt dated Sunday last week included the words “Ching Chang,” a racial slur. The Chinese Consulate-General in Christchurch in a statement on Thursday said it had received and accepted an apology from the restaurant over the incident. The comment triggered an online furor among Taiwanese who saw it as an insult to the
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