The US will keep its commitment to Taiwan regardless of who wins the US presidential election in November, former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo said at a talk in Washington titled “Taiwan’s Democracy in the International Community.”
Pompeo told the event — which was hosted by the Washington-based Hudson Institute and the Taiwan UN Alliance — he regreted that the US “did not do more for the people of Hong Kong” in 2020, when authorities there cracked down on democracy protests.
His Taiwan policy as secretary of state was based on the premise of acknowledging that Taiwan has never been a part of the People’s Republic of China, he said.
Photo: CNA
One of the key ways in which he aimed to implement that policy was to push for Taiwan to be decoupled from the core framework of US-China relations, he said.
Whenever he met with Chinese officials, they would always make Taiwan the main topic of discussion, he said, adding that he sent former secretary of state Keith Krach to Taiwan in response.
The US government at the time also ignored protests from Beijing when it sent then-US secretary of health Alex Azar to Taiwan in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Pompeo said.
No region, people or nation under the rule of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) can retain their rights and freedoms, he said.
When Hong Kong fell, the US Department of State declared that Hong Kong no longer had the high degree of autonomy it had been promised in 1984, he added.
Pompeo said he encourages US officials to visit Taiwan more often, even though doing so would incite threats from the CCP.
“I hope more, other senior American officials will join me in this, because I think it will create noise,” he said. “There will be angst, the Chinese Communist Party will bluster and threaten, but that clarity will provide the call for the world to accept the fundamental truth, that fundamental reality.”
That “reality” is that Taiwan is a sovereign and independent country, he said.
Pompeo said his own experience visiting Taiwan proved that it is an independent country.
“I’m banned from traveling to ... China and I landed in Taipei, proving that my passport cleared and that, in fact, this was an independent nation with all the indices, indicia of statehood,” he said.
Taiwan United Nations Alliance president Michael Tsai (蔡明憲) told reporters after the talk at the Hudson Institute that the alliance has been working to expand its contacts within the US Congress ahead of the UN General Debate, which is scheduled to start on Tuesday.
The alliance advocates Taiwan’s inclusion in UN organizations.
“We will be holding a public hearing on UN Resolution 2758 at the US Capitol, and will also discuss Taiwan-US cooperation in diplomacy and defense with the US Naval Academy,” Tsai said.
While leading a delegation of alliance members to the US, Tsai said he observed that lawmakers from both major US parties have reservations about China.
Whether former US president Donald Trump or US Vice President Kamala Harris wins the Nov. 5 election, US policy toward Taiwan is unlikely to change, as stability and peace across the Taiwan Strait would be in line with the national interests of the US, he said.
Tsai said he urged US lawmakers to support Taiwan’s bid to join the UN, the Washington Times reported.
“We’d like to join the UN to share the responsibility we can,” the report quoted Tsai as saying.
Theaters and institutions in Taiwan have received 28 threatening e-mails, including bomb threats, since a documentary critical of China began being screened across the nation last month, the National Security Bureau said yesterday. The actions are part of China’s attempts to undermine Taiwan’s sovereignty, it said. State Organs (國有器官) documents allegations that Chinese government officials engage in organ harvesting and other illegal activities. From last month to Friday last week, 28 incidents have been reported of theaters or institutions receiving threats, including bomb and shooting threats, if they did not stop showing the documentary, the bureau said. Although the threats were not carried out,
‘GRAY ZONE’ TACTICS: China continues to build up its military capacity while regularly deploying jets and warships around Taiwan, with the latest balloon spotted on Sunday The US is drawing up contingency plans for military deployments in Japan and the Philippines in case of a Taiwan emergency, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported. They would be incorporated in a first joint operation plan to be formulated in December, Kyodo reported late on Sunday, citing sources familiar with Japan-US relations. A US Marine Corps regiment that possesses High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems — a light multiple rocket launcher — would be deployed along the Nansei Island chain stretching from Kyushu to Yonaguni near Taiwan, Kyodo said. According to US military guidelines for dispatching marines in small formations to several locations,
As Taiwan celebrated its baseball team’s victory in the World Baseball Softball Confederation’s Premier12 on Sunday, how politicians referred to the team in their congratulatory messages reflected the nation’s political divide. Taiwan, competing under the name Chinese Taipei (中華台北隊), made history with its first-ever Premier12 championship after beating Japan 4-0 at the Tokyo Dome. Right after the game, President William Lai (賴清德) congratulated the team via a post on his Facebook page. Besides the players, Lai also lauded the team’s coaching and medical staff, and the fans cheering for them in Tokyo or watching the live broadcast, saying that “every
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday confirmed that Chinese students visiting Taiwan at the invitation of the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation were almost all affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). During yesterday’s meeting convened by the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) asked whether the visit was a way to spread China’s so-called “united front” rhetoric, to which MAC Deputy Ministry Shen You-chung (沈有忠) responded with the CCP comment. The MAC noticed that the Chinese individuals visiting Taiwan, including those in sports, education, or religion, have had increasingly impressive backgrounds, demonstrating that the
RSS