Vice President William Lai (賴清德) has picked Representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) to be his running mate for January’s election, with an official announcement to be made on Monday, sources with direct knowledge said.
Hsiao, 52, who has been Taiwan’s de facto ambassador to the US since 2020, has been considered by party officials, diplomats and Taiwanese media for months to be the most likely running mate for Lai.
Now the decision has been made, a formal announcement is to come on Monday once Hsiao returns to Taiwan from the APEC summit in San Francisco, four sources briefed on the matter told Reuters.
Photo: Reuters
Well known in Washington, Hsiao could act as a key liaison for Taipei and Washington, one of the sources said.
“It’s a crucial role and she has the needed international experience,” the source said on condition of anonymity.
Vincent Chao (趙怡翔), spokesperson for the Lai campaign, yesterday declined to comment on Hsiao’s role, but said an announcement on a running mate would be made on Monday.
“This candidate will reinforce our commitment to the people of Taiwan and the international community that democracy, peace and prosperity will continue to be our guiding values,” he said.
Ivan Kanapathy, who regularly met with Hsiao when he was deputy senior director for Asia at the US National Security Council, said that Hsiao is a “tireless advocate” for Taiwan.
“If Ambassador Hsiao becomes vice president, her knowledge, experience and relationships would be invaluable for national security and foreign policy in the next Taiwanese administration,” said Kanapathy, an adjunct professor at Georgetown University.
Hsiao has been “very engaged on Taiwan’s defense reform efforts, which are drawing on lessons from Ukraine,” he said, pointing to examples such as initiatives for Taiwan to acquire more munitions, including Patriot missiles and drones.
Lai has during the past week talked up Hsiao in interviews with local media, without directly confirming he had picked her, calling her “very principled” and “thorough.”
Hsiao was born in Japan to a Taiwanese father and American mother, and initially worked in the office of then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and then as a Democratic Progressive Party lawmaker.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office on Wednesday referred to Lai and Hsiao as an “independence double act” and that Taiwanese are “very clear” about what both of them teaming up means for the “situation in the Taiwan Strait.”
The coast guard drove away 567 Chinese boats and seized seven illegally operating in Taiwanese waters in the first six months of this year, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. They mostly operated near Kinmen and Penghu counties, resulting in fines totaling NT$1.7 million (US$52,440), it said. Three ships — two near Kinmen County and one near Penghu County — were detained in January for illegally crossing the border, while one ship each was detained near Kinmen in February and Penghu in March respectively, it said. The ship seized near Penghu in January was the Yun Ao (雲澳), detained by the CGA’s
The entire Alishan Forest Railway line is to reopen for the first time in 15 years on Saturday, with tickets to go on sale at 2pm today. The historic railway from Chiayi to Alishan (阿里山) is finally set to reopen after the completion of the final No. 42 tunnel, Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office Deputy Director-General Chou Heng-kai (周恆凱) said. It is to run on a new timetable, with four trains daily, he said. The 9am train is to depart from Chiayi Railway Station bound for Shizilu Station (十字路), while the 10am train departing from Chiayi is to go all the
Beijing’s recent provocative actions against the Philippines in the South China Sea were partly meant as a “dress rehearsal” for the invasion of Taiwan, former US deputy national security advisor Matt Pottinger said at a Heritage Foundation forum in Washington on Tuesday. Beijing’s blocking of a Philippine resupply mission on June 17 with unprecedented violence had multiple implications. “What they’re doing is trying to demonstrate that they can blockade, create a sense of futility and discredit the idea that the United States is going to help not only the Philippines, but by extension Taiwan,” Pottinger said. Pottinger was referring to a clash
FLU CONTINUES: Hospitals reported 101,091 visits for flu-like illnesses last week, while 68 severe cases and 16 flu-related deaths were also reported, the CDC said The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported 932 hospitalizations due to COVID-19 and 64 related deaths for last week, adding that the number of people who had contracted new SARS-CoV-2 subvariants KP.2 and LB.1 has increased. The number of people hospitalized due to COVID-19 increased from 815 in the previous week to 932 last week, while 90 percent of the 64 deceased were aged 65 or older, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said. JN.1 was still the dominant variant among local and imported cases in the past four weeks, while KP.2 was the second-most common, Lin said. Cases with the LB.1 subvariant