KazPost

Kazakhstan News
Monday, Nov 04, 2024

US, Taiwan "Closer Than Ever": President Tsai Ing-Wen Says In New York

US, Taiwan "Closer Than Ever": President Tsai Ing-Wen Says In New York

Ms Tsai arrived in New York on Wednesday on her way to Central America, and on her way back to Taipei next week will stop in Los Angeles where she is expected to meet U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
The U.S. and Taiwan are closer than ever, Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen told supporters during a stopover in New York that so far, according to Taipei and Washington, has not triggered unusual military actions by China.

Ms Tsai arrived in New York on Wednesday on her way to Central America, and on her way back to Taipei next week will stop in Los Angeles where she is expected to meet U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, an interaction China has warned could lead to a "serious confrontation" in U.S.-China relations.

The visit comes at a time when U.S. relations with China are at what some analysts see as their worst level since Washington normalized ties with Beijing in 1979 and switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei.

Beijing says Taiwan belongs to "one China" and, as a Chinese province, has no right to state-to-state ties. Taiwan disputes this.

On what is her first U.S. stopover since 2019, Ms Tsai touted Taiwan's economic, security and diplomatic achievements in a closed-door speech on Wednesday night to overseas Taiwanese in New York, her office said in a statement on Thursday, calling the island a "beacon of democracy in Asia."

"In particular, the relationship between Taiwan and the United States is closer than ever," she said, noting "significant progress" in economic and security cooperation.

Ms Tsai said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC) (2330.TW), the world's largest contract chipmaker, establishing a factory in Phoenix, Arizona, demonstrated the island's technological strength.

Though Taiwan faced "enormous challenges," it would not be isolated, Ms Tsai said. She also thanked the U.S. government for implementing security agreements with Taiwan, including nine announced arms sales by President Joe Biden's administration.

Laura Rosenberger, chair at the Washington headquarters of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), a U.S. government-run, non-profit organization that carries out unofficial relations with Taiwan, and New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy also attended the event, according to Tsai's office.

Ms Tsai was due to speak at a Hudson Institute think tank event on Thursday, according to sources, but Taiwan's de facto embassy in the U.S. has said all of her engagements in New York are closed to the press and public.

No Chinese military action

Taiwan's defence ministry, in its daily update on China's military activities, said that from Wednesday to Thursday morning it had not spotted any Chinese aircraft entering Taiwan's air defence zone or crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait, which serves as an unofficial barrier.

China's air force flies almost daily into the air defence zone, or across the median line, in which Taiwan calls "grey zone" warfare designed to test and wear out its forces.

A senior Taiwan security official said earlier that the island expects a less severe reaction from Beijing to a Tsai-McCarthy meeting than when then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei last year, something that prompted China to stage major military drills.

"She will be meeting in the United States, so the political complexity is not as high as the speaker coming to Taiwan," Taiwan National Security Bureau Director-General Tsai Ming-yen told Taiwan's parliament.

He added that Taiwan had been conducting dry runs on responses to a rise in tensions while the president is away, including when she is flying, and that she can be reached at any time to meet her top security officials.

The White House, which urged China on Wednesday not to use Tsai's "normal" stopover in the U.S. as a pretext to increase aggressive activity against Taiwan, also said it had seen "no tangible reaction" yet from China.

"I think we've all seen them react in a rhetorical way, but we've seen no indication that there's been any other type of reaction," White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters.

McCarthy Meeting

A meeting with Kevin McCarthy would be the first between a Taiwanese leader and a U.S. House Speaker on U.S. soil, although it is seen as a potentially less provocative alternative to Mr McCarthy visiting Taiwan, something he has said he hopes to do.

As House speaker, Kevin McCarthy is third in the U.S. leadership succession hierarchy, and China has repeatedly warned U.S. officials not to meet Ms Tsai, seeing it as showing support for the island's desire to be recognized as a separate country.

China's Taiwan Affairs Office spokesperson Zhu Fenglian said in Beijing on Wednesday that if President Tsai met with McCarthy, China would "definitely take measures to resolutely fight back" and Xu Xueyuan, charge d'affaires at China's Washington embassy, said such a meeting "could lead to another serious confrontation in the China-U.S. relationship."

Washington, like most countries, maintains only unofficial ties with Taipei, but U.S. law requires the government to provide the island with the means to defend itself and it facilitates unofficial stopover visits.

The U.S. transit is Tsai's seventh since taking office in 2016 and comes amid concerns in the U.S. and elsewhere that Russia's invasion of Ukraine might embolden China to move against Taiwan.
Newsletter

Related Articles

KazPost
0:00
0:00
Close
It's always the people with the dirty hands pointing their fingers
Paper straws found to contain long-lasting and potentially toxic chemicals - study
FTX's Bankman-Fried headed for jail after judge revokes bail
Blackrock gets half a trillion dollar deal to rebuild Ukraine
America's First New Nuclear Reactor in Nearly Seven Years Begins Operations
Southeast Asia moves closer to economic unity with new regional payments system
Today Hunter Biden’s best friend and business associate, Devon Archer, testified that Joe Biden met in Georgetown with Russian Moscow Mayor's Wife Yelena Baturina who later paid Hunter Biden $3.5 million in so called “consulting fees”
Singapore Carries Out First Execution of a Woman in Two Decades Amid Capital Punishment Debate
Google testing journalism AI. We are doing it already 2 years, and without Google biased propoganda and manipulated censorship
Unlike illegal imigrants coming by boats - US Citizens Will Need Visa To Travel To Europe in 2024
Musk announces Twitter name and logo change to X.com
The future of sports
Unveiling the Black Hole: The Mysterious Fate of EU's Aid to Ukraine
Farewell to a Music Titan: Tony Bennett, Renowned Jazz and Pop Vocalist, Passes Away at 96
Alarming Behavior Among Florida's Sharks Raises Concerns Over Possible Cocaine Exposure
Transgender Exclusion in Miss Italy Stirs Controversy Amidst Changing Global Beauty Pageant Landscape
TikTok Takes On Spotify And Apple, Launches Own Music Service
Global Trend: Using Anti-Fake News Laws as Censorship Tools - A Deep Dive into Tunisia's Scenario
Arresting Putin During South African Visit Would Equate to War Declaration, Asserts President Ramaphosa
Hacktivist Collective Anonymous Launches 'Project Disclosure' to Unearth Information on UFOs and ETIs
Typo sends millions of US military emails to Russian ally Mali
Server Arrested For Theft After Refusing To Pay A Table's $100 Restaurant Bill When They Dined & Dashed
The Changing Face of Europe: How Mass Migration is Reshaping the Political Landscape
China Urges EU to Clarify Strategic Partnership Amid Trade Tensions
Europe is boiling: Extreme Weather Conditions Prevail Across the Continent
The Last Pour: Anchor Brewing, America's Pioneer Craft Brewer, Closes After 127 Years
Democracy not: EU's Digital Commissioner Considers Shutting Down Social Media Platforms Amid Social Unrest
Sarah Silverman and Renowned Authors Lodge Copyright Infringement Case Against OpenAI and Meta
Why Do Tech Executives Support Kennedy Jr.?
The New York Times Announces Closure of its Sports Section in Favor of The Athletic
BBC Anchor Huw Edwards Hospitalized Amid Child Sex Abuse Allegations, Family Confirms
Florida Attorney General requests Meta CEO's testimony on company's platforms' alleged facilitation of illicit activities
The Distorted Mirror of actual approval ratings: Examining the True Threat to Democracy Beyond the Persona of Putin
40,000 child slaves in Congo are forced to work in cobalt mines so we can drive electric cars.
Historic Moment: Edgars Rinkevics, EU's First Openly Gay Head of State, Takes Office as Latvia's President
An Ominous Shift in Warfare: Western Powers Risk War Crimes and Violate International Norms with Cluster Bomb Supply to Ukraine
Bye bye democracy, human rights, freedom: French Cops Can Now Secretly Activate Phone Cameras, Microphones And GPS To Spy On Citizens
The Poor Man With Money, Mark Zuckerberg, Unveils Twitter Replica with Heavy-Handed Censorship: A New Low in Innovation?
The Double-Edged Sword of AI: AI is linked to layoffs in industry that created it
US Sanctions on China's Chip Industry Backfire, Prompting Self-Inflicted Blowback
Meta Copy Twitter with New App, Threads
The New French Revolution
BlackRock Bitcoin ETF Application Refiled, Naming Coinbase as ‘Surveillance-Sharing’ Partner
Corruption in the European Parliament - Business as usual
UK Crypto and Stablecoin Regulations Become Law as Royal Assent is Granted
Paris Suburb Grapples with Violence as Curfew Imposed: Saint-Denis Residents Express Dismay and Anger
A Delaware city wants to let businesses vote in its elections
Alef Aeronautics Achieves Historic Milestone with Flight Certification for World's First Flying Car
Google Blocked Access to Canadian News in Response to New Legislation
French Politicians Advocate for Pan-European Regulation on Social Media Influencers
×