Taiwan considers sending delegates to US presidential inauguration

蘋果日報 2020/12/07 06:57


Taiwan is considering forming a delegation to attend the January inaugural ceremony of the United States’ next president, its foreign ministry said.
Although Washington does not formally invite foreign government representatives to its presidential inaugurations, the self-ruled island used to send delegates to the event through arrangements made with Congress, the ministry said.
The upcoming Jan. 20 inauguration in Washington is expected to be scaled down compared to previous events due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The ministry said Taiwan is liaising closely with the U.S. over the ceremony’s arrangements and COVID measures to see how it could best send its well wishes to the new president and vice president.
Former Vice President Joe Biden officially secured the Electoral College majority to win the White House, but the election results are still being challenged by incumbent President Donald Trump with lawsuits in a number of key states.
The Taiwanese foreign ministry also stressed that it was looking forward to working closely with Biden’s administration to advance bilateral ties.
Meanwhile, Taiwan’s air force unveiled a plan to buy almost 300 units of PAC-3 surface-to-air missiles from the U.S., putting the island on the path to own 650 of the advanced anti-air missiles by 2027, Taiwanese media reports said.
The island’s air force is also upgrading its F-16A/B fighter jets to F-16V models. According to a report submitted to the Legislative Yuan, 22 F-16A/B jets would complete their upgrades by the end of the year.
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