The reopening of a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) liaison office in the US signaled a “return” for the party’s voice in Washington, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said on Wednesday.
Chu, who is on an 11-day trip to the US, attended a plaque unveiling ceremony to mark the official reopening of the KMT’s representative office on the top floor of a building on 601 Pennsylvania Ave in Washington.
The new mission, headed by KMT Department of International Affairs director Alexander Huang (黃介正), would work to garner support in Washington for “Taiwan, the Republic of China and Taiwanese,” Chu said.
Photo: CNA
The party’s representation disappeared in Washington following the closure of a previous liaison office shortly after Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) of the KMT became president in 2008, Chu said.
Taiwan needs support from the international community at a time of heightened tensions, in particular from the US, Chu said.
He later told reporters that the KMT has been a “pro-US, pro-democracy and pro-peace” party dedicated to defending Taiwan since its founding more than a century ago.
The KMT was established in Hawaii in 1894 as the Revive China Society, and in 1919 was reconstituted under its current name in Shanghai, China.
After retreating to Taiwan in 1949, the KMT-controlled government ruled Taiwan under a one-party authoritarian system and imposed martial law for nearly four decades until the beginning of democratization in the late 1980s.
Chu said the KMT had been “mislabeled” as “pro-China,” and is opposed to China’s growing military and economic pressure on Taiwan, such as increasing incursions by Chinese military aircraft into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone.
“Any assertive maneuvers will do nothing but cause a sense of aversion among Taiwanese,” Chu said.
The chairman urged both sides of the Taiwan Strait to seek dialogue and exchanges to foster amicable relations and find common ground while respecting their differences.
The ceremony was attended by US Department of State Office of Taiwan Coordination Director Dan Biers, former US envoy to APEC Robert Wang (王曉岷) and David Brown, a visiting academic at Johns Hopkins University specializing in China studies.
Brown said he was pleased to see the KMT establishing a new presence in Washington, adding that the office would make a tremendous contribution to fostering trust and cooperation between Taiwan and the US.
CAUTION: Based on intelligence from the nation’s security agencies, MOFA has cautioned Taiwanese travelers about heightened safety risks in China-friendly countries The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Taiwanese to be aware of their safety when traveling abroad, especially in countries that are friendly to China. China in June last year issued 22 guidelines that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death so-called “diehard” Taiwanese independence activists, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan. Late last month, a senior Chinese official gave closed-door instructions to state security units to implement the guidelines in countries friendly to China, a government memo and a senior Taiwan security official said, based on information gathered by Taiwan’s intelligence agency. The
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said yesterday that it is looking to hire 8,000 people this year, at a time when the tech giant is expanding production capacity to maintain its lead over competitors. To attract talent, TSMC would launch a large-scale recruitment campaign on campuses across Taiwan, where a newly recruited engineer with a master’s degree could expect to receive an average salary of NT$2.2 million (US$60,912), which is much higher than the 2023 national average of NT$709,000 for those in the same category, according to government statistics. TSMC, which accounted for more than 60 percent
Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢), a Taiwanese businessman and deputy convener of the nation’s National Climate Change Committee, said yesterday that “electrical power is national power” and nuclear energy is “very important to Taiwan.” Tung made the remarks, suggesting that his views do not align with the country’s current official policy of phasing out nuclear energy, at a forum organized by the Taiwan People’s Party titled “Challenges and Prospects of Taiwan’s AI Industry and Energy Policy.” “Taiwan is currently pursuing industries with high added- value and is developing vigorously, and this all requires electricity,” said the chairman
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
RSS