‘NO MORE’: Pompeo’s decision was not rushed before the change of administration, but was the result of a long review of Taiwan-US ties, a US assistant secretary said
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Saturday announced that the US Department of State is voiding long-standing restrictions on how US diplomats and others have contact with their counterparts in Taiwan, just a little over a week before US president-elect Joe Biden is sworn in. Pompeo instructed executive branch agencies to consider “all ‘contact guidelines’ regarding relations with Taiwan ... to be null and void.” “For several decades the State Department has created complex internal restrictions to regulate our diplomats, service members, and other officials’ interactions with their Taiwanese counterparts,” Pompeo said in a statement. “The United States government took these actions
Intel Corp has talked with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and Samsung Electronics Co about the Asian companies making some of its best chips, but the Silicon Valley pioneer is still holding out hope for last-minute improvements in its own production capabilities. After successive delays in its chip fabrication processes, Santa Clara, California-based Intel has yet to make a decision less than two weeks ahead of a scheduled announcement of its plans, people familiar with the deliberations said. Any components that Intel might source from Taiwan would not come to market until 2023 at the earliest and would be based on
CONTACTS TRACED: The doctor and his nurse girlfriend, who also tested positive, have only mild symptoms, but their cases have led to hundreds of people being tested
The first case of a doctor contracting COVID-19 after treating an infected patient was one of two locally transmitted cases and two imported cases reported by the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday. The second local case, No. 839, is the doctor’s girlfriend, a nurse who works at the same hospital. Case No. 838, a man in his 30s, is a doctor in a hospital in northern Taiwan that has been treating COVID-19 cases, said Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center. He was in a negative-pressure isolation ward where one of the confirmed patients was staying
DEPARTURE CEREMONY: Guam’s governor hailed the US’ move to end restrictions on contacts with Taiwanese officials, saying it would help the territory build ties with Taipei
A humanitarian charter flight, carrying dozens of people who had either been stranded on Guam and Saipan amid border closures or were in need of medical treatment, arrived in Taiwan at 5:25pm yesterday. The flight, operated by China Airlines Ltd (中華航空), landed at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport with 47 passengers and 13 crew aboard. Five of the passengers had applied to local hospitals for treatment of tumors, heart arrhythmia or other conditions, and were approved by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, while four more are family members, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is the spokesman
‘ASSERTIVE STEPS’: The report says that the US should enable Taiwan to construct asymmetric defense capabilities that would allow it to engage China on its own terms
US President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday declassified a report that casts the defense of Taiwan as critical to the Indo-Pacific strategy of checking China’s ascent, Bloomberg reported yesterday. “US Strategic Framework for the Indo-Pacific” has governed the US’ strategic response to China since Trump approved it in February 2018, Bloomberg reported, citing a statement by US National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien. “Beijing is increasingly pressuring Indo-Pacific nations to subordinate their freedom and sovereignty to a ‘common destiny’ envisioned by the Chinese Communist Party [CCP],” O’Brien was cited as saying. The report assumes that China would “take increasingly assertive steps to compel unification
LUXURY DEMANDS: Taiwanese living in China reportedly said the rooms looked like prison cells, but the CECC said the rooms were intended to prevent infections
About 46 percent of the government’s quarantine rooms made available for returning residents were booked on the first day they were open for reservation, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday, as it reported three new imported cases of COVID-19. Tightened quarantine regulations, requiring inbound passengers to be mainly quarantined in hotels and centralized facilities, or “one person per housing unit” if in private housing, are to be implemented from Friday. The CECC on Wednesday announced that it would make 1,500 to 2,000 centralized quarantine facility rooms available to returning Taiwan residents, as the Lunar New Year holiday nears, and on
PILLARS OF DEMOCRACY: US Ambassador to the UN Kelly Craft posted online after the virtual meeting that Taiwan should be able to share its successes in global venues
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and US Ambassador to the UN Kelly Craft yesterday held a virtual meeting, during which Tsai described Taiwan as a “force for good” that deserves a place on the world stage, while Craft reaffirmed Washington’s support for Taiwan’s international participation. The virtual talk was held at about 11am, after Craft’s trip to Taiwan was abruptly canceled. She had been scheduled to meet with Tsai in person at the Presidential Office in Taipei yesterday morning as part of a three-day visit to Taiwan. On Tuesday, the US Department of State canceled all of its planned trips, citing a need
Lawmakers and officials were among the people who lined up early yesterday to apply for the redesigned passports, which prominently display the word “Taiwan,” while minimizing the English name “Republic of China” (ROC). Nearly 300 people applied for passports at the Bureau of Consular Affairs in Taipei, where Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) watched over the process. Wu said he was happy to see the high level of enthusiasm for the passports, and reiterated that other nations, airlines, the International Air Transport Association and relevant agencies have been notified of the change to ensure a smooth transition. There would be no
‘HUMILIATING’: Aletheia University students called on the school to apologize for limiting former professor Chang Liang-tse’s access to its Taiwan literature archive
The Aletheia University Student Association yesterday called on the university to apologize to retired professor Chang Liang-tse (張良澤) after it prevented him from accessing the Taiwanese literature archive at its Tainan campus by changing the lock on the building. Last month, the university changed the lock on the building without warning, barring Chang’s access to the archive that he had “singlehandedly established,” Chung Yen-wei (鍾延威), the son of the late writer Chung Chao-cheng (鍾肇政), wrote on Facebook on Friday. The university in 1997 created the first department of Taiwanese literature in the nation, and Chang, now 82, was the department’s first-ever chairman,
Government officials yesterday welcomed US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s announcement lifting restrictions governing official US contacts with Taiwan, with many calling it the latest example of bipartisan commitment to deepening Taiwan-US ties. In a statement issued on Saturday, Pompeo instructed executive agencies to consider “all ‘contact guidelines’ regarding relations with Taiwan ... to be null and void.” “The United States government took these actions unilaterally, in an attempt to appease the Communist regime in Beijing. No more,” the statement reads. “The US-Taiwan relationship need not, and should not, be shackled by self-imposed restrictions of our permanent bureaucracy.” In Washington, the Taipei Economic
MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday announced it would give incentive bonuses totaling NT$1.7 billion (US$59.7 million) to its employees and those at the firm’s major subsidiaries, after the smartphone chip supplier’s revenue hit US$10 billion last year. This is the biggest incentive bonus the Hsinchu-based handset chip designer has ever distributed in its 23-year history. About 17,000 full-time employees of MediaTek and five of its subsidiaries, including Richtek Technology Corp (立錡科技) and Airoha Technology Corp (絡達科技), would receive a “red envelope” of NT$100,000 each, the company said. “Surpassing US$10 billion is just the beginning. We will continue to [grow] on this basis,” MediaTek
US Ambassador to the Netherlands Pete Hoekstra on Monday shared photographs of his meeting with his Taiwanese counterpart, Chen Hsing-hsing (陳欣新), at the US embassy in The Hague, after Washington lifted restrictions on official contacts with Taipei. Two days earlier, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that he was lifting the “self-imposed restrictions” on US-Taiwan relations. “Made some history today: Welcomed Taiwan Representative Chen to our Embassy,” Hoekstra wrote on Twitter on Monday. “Glad that our @StateDept colleagues around the world will now be able to host our friends from this vibrant democracy on our Embassy grounds.” Chen replied on Twitter
TO SPUR REVENUE: The contract chipmaker expects its profit to grow 15 percent this year, outpacing the foundry industry’s projected advance of about 10 percent
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday raised its projected capital spending for this year by 62 percent, a new high, in an attempt to satisfy customer demand for advanced technologies in the production of central processing units, high-performance-computing (HPC) devices and 5G applications. After investing US$17.24 billion last year, TSMC this year plans to spend US$25 billion to US$28 billion on manufacturing equipment and new facilities, including a fab in the US. About 80 percent of the budget would be allocated for developing advanced technologies including 3, 5 and 7-nanometer technologies, the company said. The larger-than-expected capital spending prompted speculation
‘HIGH IMPACT’: The potential for a conflict over Taiwan was raised from ‘Tier 2’ in previous years, joining the ranks of potential US disputes with Iran and North Korea
The New York-based Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) on Thursday listed a possible conflict between the US and China over Taiwan as a top-tier concern for the first time in its annual Preventive Priorities Survey. The report assessed the likelihood and effects of 30 potential conflicts that could break out over the next year based on responses from 550 US government officials, foreign policy experts and academics. Those conflicts are classified into one of three tiers, and the possibility of “intensifying political and economic pressure from China against Taiwan, leading to a severe crisis with the United States,” was classified as a
MISSED OPPORTUNITY? Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wang Ting-yu said stickers for the public with the words ‘Taiwan, join UN’ could be saved for future use
The government yesterday expressed regret that US Ambassador to the UN Kelly Craft’s trip to Taiwan was canceled, but refuted a rumor that her flight was airborne when the cancelation was announced. “We are expecting shortly a plan from the incoming administration identifying the career officials who will remain in positions of responsibility on an acting basis until the [US] Senate confirmation process is complete for incoming officials,” US Department of State spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in a statement on Tuesday. “As a result, we are canceling all planned travel this week, including the secretary’s trip to Europe,” Ortagus said, referring to
Malaysia’s king yesterday declared a nationwide state of emergency to fight a COVID-19 surge and parliament was suspended, with critics charging it was a bid by the unstable government to cling to power. The surprise move came a day after Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin announced sweeping new curbs across much of the nation, including the closure of most businesses, and warned the health system was “at breaking point.” Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah agreed to declare an emergency until Aug. 1 following a request from Muhyiddin, the national palace said in a statement. It is the first time Malaysia has declared a
ALLEVIATING FEARS: The CECC would only announce public places where it is difficult to identify everyone there at the same time as the couple, minister Chen said
The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday announced six places where two locally infected COVID-19 cases had visited between Thursday last week and Sunday, urging people who had been at the places at the same time to monitor their health. The couple, cases 838, a doctor, and 839, his nurse girlfriend, were reported by the center on Tuesday. The doctor had treated a patient with COVID-19 last week before he began suffering symptoms on Friday, while the nurse began suffering symptoms on Saturday. They work in the same hospital in northern Taiwan, but the nurse had not worked with COVID-19 patients, so
SECOND RULING: Israeli-American Oren Shlomo Mayer refused to sign a court transcript, complained about the court translator and said the trial had been unfair
The High Court yesterday upheld New Taipei City District Court’s verdicts on four men convicted last year in connection with the 2018 murder and dismemberment of a Canadian citizen on the banks of the Sindian River (新店溪). It found American-Israeli Oren Shlomo Mayer and American Ewart Odane Bent guilty of homicide and the abandonment and destruction of a corpse, with Mayer sentenced to life in prison and Bent given a term of 12 years and six months, for the death of Sanjay Ryan Ramgahan, whose body parts were found in a riverside park under Zhongzheng Bridge in New Taipei’s Yonghe
NO PATIENCE: Beijing was very involved in coordinating moves to silence activists, and further moves were likely ahead of this year’s polls, a senior Chinese official said
The arrest of more than 50 democrats in Hong Kong last week intensifies a drive by Beijing to stifle any return of a populist challenge to Chinese rule and more measures are likely, according to two individuals with direct knowledge of China’s plans. While stressing that plans have not been finalized, the individuals said it was possible that Hong Kong elections — already postponed until September on COVID-19 grounds — could face reforms that one person said were aimed at reducing the influence of democrats. Both individuals, who have extensive high-level experience in Hong Kong affairs and represent Beijing’s interests, spoke on
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