John Bolton, a former US national security adviser and an outspoken China hawk who said he might run for president next year, is scheduled to visit Taiwan this week, a Radio Free Asia (RFA) report said on Friday.
Bolton said in January that he might run for the Republican US presidential nomination next year against former US president Donald Trump, telling the New York Post that “Trump’s support within the party itself is in terminal decline.”
Prior to being a US national security adviser under Trump from April 2018 to September 2019, he was a US ambassador to the UN from 2005 to 2006.
Photo: Reuters
Bolton’s office told RFA that he would deliver remarks at two pro-Taiwanese independence events in Taipei.
The first is a keynote speech at the World Taiwanese Congress on Saturday, with the theme “Maintaining Long-Term Peace and Security in Taiwan,” while the other is a keynote address at the Formosan Association for Public Affairs’ 40th anniversary banquet on May 1, RFA said.
Bolton has long advocated for a hard line on China and US recognition of Taiwan as a sovereign nation, RFA said, adding that the White House bid he is pondering would be “a long shot, but his position on China is politically astute.”
US polls show that an unfavorable view toward China is increasing among the population, and support for Taiwan is rising, University of Nevada, Las Vegas political science professor Austin Wang (王宏恩) told RFA.
“Bolton’s visit to Taiwan as a [potential] presidential candidate carries two significant meanings: Firstly, it could help him in the primaries of his party, and secondly, it reflects the importance of Taiwan issues for supporters of various political parties,” Wang was quoted as saying.
Bolton would not be the only high-profile Republican to visit Taiwan.
Former US vice president Mike Pence, who said he is also considering a presidential bid, is due to visit Taiwan in June, RFA said.
Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, who has been touted by supporters as a potential presidential contender, is also scheduled to visit Taiwan ahead of Bolton, RFA said.
Separately, Japanese media reported yesterday that former president of House of Councilors of Japan and Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Akiko Santo is scheduled to visit Taiwan from May 3 in an effort to deepen relations.
The 80-year-old Santo was elected for the eighth time in 2019, making her the longest-serving lawmaker in the chamber, and was also the party’s first female faction head, as well as the first female vice president and president of the House of Councilors, stepping down as president last year.
While hosting a meeting in the Chamber of Japan House of Councilors on June 11, 2021, Santo announced the passing of a motion calling for Taiwan’s attendance at the World Health Assembly, which was passed without objection.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about
RSS