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Foreign minister to rub shoulders with top US brass

Taiwan's Minister of Foreign Affairs Eugene Chien (簡又新) will meet with senior US officials during the 22nd American Enterprise Institute (AEI) World Forum in Beaver Creek, Colorado June 19-22, an AEI executive said Friday.

Institute Chairman Christopher DeMuth said during a news briefing that Chien, who arrived in the city Thursday, will have "many opportunities" to meet with White House officials, including Vice President Dick Cheney, during the four-day forum.

The "opportunities" referred to by DeMuth include a dinner party and discussion to be moderated by former US President Gerald Ford yesterday.

It remains unclear whether Chien will be able to do more than shake hands and have a short, informal chat with Cheney, according to a US specialist on China.

John Tkacik, a research fellow with the Heritage Foundation, a noted US think tank, said that even though the US and Taiwan have traditionally maintained smooth communications through their representative offices, the administration of US President George W. Bush has acknowledged that its engagement with high-ranking diplomatic officials was insufficient in the past.

Chien himself would not go into detail about the prospects for his meeting with senior American officials. He said only that things are still being arranged.

DeMuth said that the AEI, a Washington-based think tank, organizes the World Forum annually for a select group of business executives, government officials, academics and former heads of governments from around the globe to discuss the most critical economic, social and security issues facing the US and the international community.

As relations between the US and several of its major European allies have been tense in the past few months over the war in Iraq, DeMuth said more European delegates have been invited to the meeting this year.

Taiwan has consistently been invited to the annual event since its inception in 1982 because it upholds democracy and has a free-market economy, DeMuth said.
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