KOROR, Palau: Taiwan President Lai Ching-te said Friday he was “confident” of deeper cooperation with the next Donald Trump administration, a day after his call with US Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson that angered China.
Like other world governments, Taiwan has publicly congratulated Trump on his victory in November’s presidential election as it seeks to get onside with the next US leader.
The United States does not have official diplomatic relations with Taiwan, but Washington has long been Taipei’s biggest backer and provider of arms.
Trump caused jitters during his campaign by suggesting Taiwan should pay the United States for its defense and accusing the island of stealing the US semiconductor industry.
“Taiwan is confident that it will continue to deepen cooperation with the new government to resist authoritarian expansion, and create prosperity and development for both countries while making more contributions to regional stability and peace,” Lai told reporters in Palau.
Lai arrived in the tiny Pacific island nation on Thursday after visiting the American territory of Guam where he spoke with Johnson – the highest-level US contact the Taiwanese leader has had during his week-long trip.
China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and opposes any international recognition of the island. Beijing especially bristles at high-level official contact between Taipei and Washington.
A 2022 visit to Taiwan by then US House speaker Nancy Pelosi prompted China to launch military drills around the self-ruled island.
Beijing on Thursday urged the United States to “stop sending wrong signals” following the Lai-Johnson call, warning of the “serious danger that separatist acts of Taiwan independence pose to peace and security across the Taiwan Strait.”
In response to a question about possible Chinese military drills around Taiwan this weekend, Lai said “raising your fists is not as good as opening your hands.”
Lai also insisted that Taiwan and China were “not subordinate to each other.”
“No matter how many military exercises, warships and aircraft China sends to coerce neighboring countries, it cannot win the respect of any country,” Lai said.
Lai’s Pacific tour – his first overseas trip since taking office in May – is aimed at fortifying ties in the Pacific where China has been poaching its allies.
Palau is among 12 nations that still recognize Taiwan’s claim to statehood, after China convinced others to sever diplomatic relations with Taipei in favor of Beijing.
Earlier, Lai and his Palau counterpart Surangel Whipps Jr watched a joint rescue exercise involving the Taiwan’s largest coast guard patrol ship and two vessels donated by Taiwan to Palau.
Before that, Lai attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new “one-stop” government services building in Palau that Taiwan helped fund.
Lai hailed the building project “a model of successful bilateral cooperation” and said the Taiwan-Palau alliance was “rock solid.”
The dispute between Taiwan and China goes back to 1949 when Chiang Kai-shek’s nationalist forces were defeated by Mao Zedong’s communist fighters and fled to the island.
While Taiwan calls itself a sovereign nation, with its own government, military and currency, Beijing insists the island belongs to China and has not ruled out the use of force to bring it under its control.
Taiwan faces the constant threat of a military attack by China, which regularly deploys fighter jets and warships around the island to press its claims, and it relies heavily on US arms sales to boost its defenses.
On the eve of Lai’s Pacific tour, the United States approved a proposed sale to Taiwan of spare parts for F-16s and radar systems, as well as communications equipment, in deals valued at $385 million in total.
Speaking during a two-day visit to the US state of Hawaii on Saturday, Lai said there was a need to “fight together to prevent war,” warning there were “no winners” from conflict.
From Palau, Lai flies to Taipei on Friday, wrapping up a trip that also included visits to Taiwan’s other Pacific island allies the Marshall Islands and Tuvalu.
Taiwan’s Lai says ‘confident’ of deeper cooperation with Trump
https://arab.news/wnf7t
Taiwan’s Lai says ‘confident’ of deeper cooperation with Trump
- The United States does not have official diplomatic relations with Taiwan
- ‘Taiwan is confident that it will continue to deepen cooperation with the new [US] government’
Trump says Australia will grant asylum to Iran women footballers
- Presenter on Iranian state TV had branded the players “wartime traitors” after they stood motionless during the anthem
MIAMI: US President Donald Trump said Monday that Australia had agreed to grant asylum to some of Iran’s visiting women’s football team, amid fears they could face retaliation back home for not singing the national anthem before a match.
The gesture ahead of the team’s Asian Cup match against South Korea last week was seen by many as an act of defiance against the Islamic republic just two days after the United States and Israel attacked it.
“I just spoke to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, of Australia, concerning the Iranian National Women’s Soccer Team. He’s on it! Five have already been taken care of,” Trump said Monday on his Truth Social network, less than two hours after an initial post urging Australia to take them in.
Trump added that “some, however, feel they must go back because they are worried about the safety of their families, including threats to those family members if they don’t return.”
There was no immediate comment from the Australian government, which has so far declined to say whether it could offer the players asylum.
Asked about their case on Sunday, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Australia “stands in solidarity” with the people of Iran.
The son of Iran’s late shah, US-based Reza Pahlavi, warned on Monday that the refusal to sing the anthem could have “dire consequences,” and urged Australia to offer the team protection.
Trump then weighed in, pressing Albanese to “give ASYLUM” to the team and adding: “The US will take them if you won’t.”
“Australia is making a terrible humanitarian mistake by allowing the Iran National Woman’s Soccer team to be forced back to Iran, where they will most likely be killed,” the US leader said on Truth Social.
Pahlavi, who has not returned to Iran since before the 1979 Islamic revolution that ousted the monarchy, has billed himself as the man to lead a democratic transition to a secular Iran as the theocratic regime fights to survive.
Politicians, human rights activists and even “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling have also called for the team to be offered official protection.
“Please, protect these young women,” Rowling said in a post on social media.
‘Save our girls’
A presenter on Iranian state TV had branded the players “wartime traitors” after they stood motionless during the anthem before their match against South Korea.
In subsequent games, the players saluted and sang.
Crowds gathered outside the Gold Coast stadium where the side played their last match over the weekend, banging drums and shouting “regime change for Iran.”
They then surrounded the Iranian team bus, chanting “let them go” and “save our girls.”
On Monday, an AFP journalist saw members of the team speaking on phones from their balcony of their hotel.
Asked about the possibility of granted asylum, a spokesperson for Australia’s Home Affairs department told AFP earlier it “cannot comment on the circumstances of individuals.”
Amnesty International campaigner Zaki Haidari said they faced persecution, or worse, if they were sent home.
“Some of these team members probably have had their families already threatened,” Haidari told AFP.
“Them going back... who knows what sort of punishment they will receive?“
Despite being heavily monitored, the side would have a “small window of opportunity” to seek asylum at the airport, he said.
Iran’s embassy in Australia did not respond to a request for comment.
