OPPOSITION QUESTIONED:
The US is disappointed by the legislature approving defense spending short of what the US believes is needed, a senior US official said
By Ben Blanchard / Reuters, with CNA
Taiwan is “confident” in the stable development of its ties with the US, and Washington has repeatedly said its policy toward the nation would not change, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday ahead of US President Donald Trump’s trip to China. Trump is to be in Beijing from tomorrow to Friday for a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), with Taiwan expected to be on the agenda. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio last week said that there needs to be stability across the Taiwan Strait.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung speaks at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee in Taipei yesterday.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Speaking to reporters at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei, Lin said the government is closely monitoring the upcoming Trump-Xi meeting. “We have also maintained continuous communication with the United States — whether through public statements from the US government or through non-public channels. We are confident in the stable development of Taiwan-US relations,” he said.
“The US government has repeatedly expressed that its Taiwan policy will not change,” he added. Later, responding to legislators’ questions at a meeting of the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, Lin said he remained confident in long-term Taiwan-US relations, because they are grounded in the Taiwan Relations Act and the “six assurances.” The act, signed into law by then-US president Jimmy Carter on April 10, 1979, commits the US to providing Taiwan with defense articles and services necessary for it to maintain a sufficient self-defense capability following the severing of official diplomatic ties. Under the “six assurances” issued by then-US president Ronald Reagan’s administration in 1982, the US pledged not to consult Beijing on arms sales to Taiwan and took no position on Taiwan’s sovereignty. Lin also told lawmakers that Washington has indicated it wants to focus on issues related to the trade war, fentanyl and the Middle East during the summit, while Beijing has insisted on raising the Taiwan issue. “Of course, we don’t want to see any surprises [regarding Taiwan] during the Trump-Xi meeting,” he said, adding that the government would be monitoring the summit closely. While Trump might be less conventional in his rhetoric, both his first administration and his current term have continued to approve arms sales to Taiwan and view Taiwan as an indispensable partner in the broader US national security strategy, Lin said. “We should be concerned, but not overly worried,” he added. The US has pushed Taiwan, along with its major allies around the world, to spend more on their defense. However, the opposition-controlled legislature on Friday passed a smaller special defense budget than the government had requested, and removed clauses for spending on domestically developed systems, such as surface-to-air missiles and drones. A senior US official on Sunday said that the US was disappointed by the legislature approving defense spending short of what Washington believes is needed. Democratic Progressive Party caucus chief executive Chuang Jui-hsiung (莊瑞雄) yesterday said the US would naturally have strong feelings about this, as it has worked hard to regard Taiwan as a trusted partner and to help bolster the nation’s security and defense capabilities. However, following the passage of the drastically reduced budget, questions have emerged in Washington over its trust in Taiwan’s opposition parties, he said. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said that not everything should be funneled into special budgets. If they turn into a “political ATM,” it would raise concerns not just among lawmakers, but also members of the public, who expect proper scrutiny rather than seeing everything dumped into a catch-all fund, he said. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Wang An-hsiang (王安祥) said the bill passed on Friday covered all the US arms sale items proposed by the Ministry of National Defense. “We thank the US for its efforts in helping Taiwan safeguard national security,” he added. While the Presidential Office yesterday announced that President William Lai (賴清德) had promulgated the bill passed on Friday, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that the Executive Yuan would “certainly take action” to restore the trust of the international community in Taiwan’s defense policy. Additional reporting by Lin Che-yuan and Lin Hsin-han