Taiwan’s largest opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT), on Tuesday (October 6) proposed two discussion motions in the Legislative Yuan, one on the “restoration of diplomatic relations between the United States and Taiwan” and the other on the “government should invite the United States to assist in resisting the Chinese Communist Party,” which were passed by the entire legislature without objection.
The two bills were introduced by the Chinese Kuomintang (KMT) caucus in the Legislative Yuan, and one of the items for discussion was “the Tsai Ing-wen government should take the restoration of diplomatic relations between the United States and the Republic of China as a diplomatic goal and actively promote it. In response to the passage of the bill in the Legislative Yuan, presidential spokesman Dennis Chang said that he respects the resolution of the Legislative Yuan.
In the past two months, the U.S. has not only sent Secretary of Health Alex Azar and Secretary of State Keith Krach to Taiwan, but also announced several arms sales to Taiwan. The discussion paper stated, “The U.S.-Taiwan relationship has advanced by leaps and bounds, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should actively pursue full diplomatic relations with the United States.”
In an interview with the media on Tuesday, Taiwan Executive Yuan President Su Tseng-chang said, “Taiwan will go from having diplomatic relations with the United States to not having diplomatic relations at all because of the KMT, and now the KMT has finally found its conscience, which is a good thing.” China has repeatedly pressured Taiwan to change its past practice of not considering issues in Taiwan’s best interests and to express views more in line with mainstream public opinion, Su said.
We will continue to work hard to strengthen our relationship with the U.S. and improve it step by step,” Su stressed.
Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Ou Jiang-an responded to the issue of “U.S.-Taiwan resumption of diplomatic relations” at a regular press conference on Tuesday, saying only: “The Foreign Ministry will continue to deepen the bilateral relationship between Taiwan and the U.S. at all levels, including politics, Taiwan’s international participation, economy and trade, and security, in order to meet the expectations of our Congress on Taiwan-U.S. relations. “
This echoes, to a considerable extent, the statement made by Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Wu Zhao-sheep in a September 20 NPR interview in which he emphasized: “We are not seeking full diplomatic relations with the United States at this time.” However, he expressed his desire to further explore ways to strengthen U.S.-Taiwan relations.”
The other discussion motion was passed with the words, “The Tsai Ing-wen government should actively persuade the U.S. government, in accordance with the spirit of the Taiwan Relations Act, at the request of our government, to consider the aforementioned actions of the Chinese Communist Party as a threat to peace and stability in the Western Pacific region, and to assist our country in its resistance through diplomatic, economic, and security defense means, should the Chinese Communist Party take actions that clearly endanger the security of the people and the social and economic system of Taiwan.
According to the KMT proposal, it was originally hoped that Tsai Ing-wen would ask the United States to assist Taiwan in resisting the Chinese Communist Party by diplomatic, economic, and “direct military” means, but after discussions between the two parties, the word “direct military” was changed to “security and defense” and the proposal was passed.
Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry will continue to ask the U.S. government to provide Taiwan with the necessary defensive weapons in accordance with the Six Pledges to Taiwan and the Taiwan Relations Act, and to strengthen the U.S.-Taiwan security cooperation relationship.
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