A senior US Department of State official with extensive working experience of Taiwan-US affairs is set to become the new director of the Taipei Office of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) this summer.
US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia Kin Moy is to take over from AIT Director Christopher Marut.
Moy has served in the US Foreign Service for more than 20 years. He most recently had responsibility for Taiwan, China and Mongolia affairs.
Photo courtesy of the American Institute in Taiwan
Prior to that assignment, he served as a senior adviser to former US secretaries of state Hillary Rodham Clinton, Condoleezza Rice and Madeleine Albright.
In addition, he has served in the US embassy in Beijing, the US embassy in Seoul and the US Consulate in Busan, South Korea.
As a career member of the US Senior Foreign Service, he holds the rank of minister counselor.
Moy, married with four children, graduated from Columbia University and the University of Minnesota. He is a Mandarin speaker.
He takes over as director of the AIT at a particularly sensitive time, with the presidential and legislative elections in Taiwan in January next year.
Moy is also expected to be deeply involved in Taiwan’s bid to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement next year.
“Maintaining and deepening our strong unofficial relations with Taiwan is an important part of US engagement in Asia,” Moy said in his most recent major speech on US-Taiwan affairs at the Carnegie Endowment.
He said that much of the history of the 21st century would be written in Asia and a critical part of the US’ strategy would be “building the comprehensive, durable, mutually beneficial relationship between the US and Taiwan.”
“Our broad ranging, unofficial relationship is deeply in the interests of the US. It is founded on our shared values — a commitment to freedom and democracy — and cultivated through our ongoing spirit of cooperation,” Moy said.
Taiwan is recognized around the world, he said, as a model for both economic development and democratic reform.
Moy said that the US fully supports Taiwan’s membership in international organizations where statehood is not a requirement and encourages Taiwan’s “meaningful participation” in organizations where its membership is not possible.
On cross-strait relations, Moy said in the Carnegie speech that the US commended the progress achieved in recent years and encouraged both sides to continue those efforts.
“The reason is straightforward; maintenance of cross-strait stability is essential to the US goal of promoting peace and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region,” he said.
In Taipei, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Anna Kao (高安) said the government welcomes the appointment of Moy, who has played a part in mapping out US policies on Asia-Pacific affairs and “is familiar with the development of Taipei-Washington ties.”
“We believe that Moy will help expand and advance the Taiwan-US partnership, based on the strong foundations laid by his predecessor, Christopher Marut,” Kao said.
Moy is set to be the first AIT director of Chinese descent since the institution was established in 1979 after the US switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing.
Additional reporting by CNA
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
The government is considering polices to increase rental subsidies for people living in social housing who get married and have children, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. During an interview with the Plain Law Movement (法律白話文) podcast, Cho said that housing prices cannot be brought down overnight without affecting banks and mortgages. Therefore, the government is focusing on providing more aid for young people by taking 3 to 5 percent of urban renewal projects and zone expropriations and using that land for social housing, he said. Single people living in social housing who get married and become parents could obtain 50 percent more
DEMOGRAPHICS: Robotics is the most promising answer to looming labor woes, the long-term care system and national contingency response, an official said Taiwan is to launch a five-year plan to boost the robotics industry in a bid to address labor shortages stemming from a declining and aging population, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The government approved the initiative, dubbed the Smart Robotics Industry Promotion Plan, via executive order, senior officials told a post-Cabinet meeting news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s population decline would strain the economy and the nation’s ability to care for vulnerable and elderly people, said Peter Hong (洪樂文), who heads the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Department of Engineering and Technologies. Projections show that the proportion of Taiwanese 65 or older would
Democracies must remain united in the face of a shifting geopolitical landscape, former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) told the Copenhagen Democracy Summit on Tuesday, while emphasizing the importance of Taiwan’s security to the world. “Taiwan’s security is essential to regional stability and to defending democratic values amid mounting authoritarianism,” Tsai said at the annual forum in the Danish capital. Noting a “new geopolitical landscape” in which global trade and security face “uncertainty and unpredictability,” Tsai said that democracies must remain united and be more committed to building up resilience together in the face of challenges. Resilience “allows us to absorb shocks, adapt under
RSS