Taiwan's new de-facto ambassador to the US, David Lee (
Lee was greeted at the airport by acting American Institute in Taiwan chairman William Brown and a State Department security official as well as Li Chen-hsiung (
In addition, around 80 pan-blue and pan-green partisans were on hand at Dulles International Airport to meet Lee on his arrival. Lee's supporters and detractors were about equally divided.
PHOTO: NADIA TSAO, TAIPEI TIMES
Although Lee was whisked out of the airport and prevented by police from speaking to Taiwan reporters, he later held a brief press conference at the TECRO headquarters.
Lee said he brought a message from Chen, who Lee said "wants to convey to American officials and the American people that Taiwan will remain as a loyal friend of the United States."
"He asked me to try my very best to consolidate the friendship between the two countries," Lee said.
Speaking about overall US-Taiwan relations, Lee said, "It is very important to enhance the cooperative relations with the US in trying to minimize the possible misunderstandings between us, and I know that we need to work together to cooperate with the US administration to help safeguard peace in the Taiwan Strait.
"I also want to work together with the Americans to try to promote the prosperity of our two countries. Through cooperation we may further consolidate the democratic progress of Taiwan and may try to encourage democratic progress on the mainland," he said.
Lee replaces Chen Chien-jen (
Like Chen, Lee, 55, is a stalwart Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) member, but was chosen because of his wide-ranging diplomatic experience and expertise. His most recent post was as representative to the EU in Brussels.
Despite his party affiliation, Lee has repeatedly stated that "a diplomat should loyally serve his country and the people regardless of his political orientation."
One of his first official tasks will be to travel to Boston to observe the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday and meet with Taiwanese Americans taking part in convention-related events.
He is then expected to make the rounds to meet with US administration officials, members of Congress and other key contacts in Washington.
Lee was selected to replace Chen more than two months ago, but the Bush administration gave formal consent to the appointment only on July 2.
He was sworn in by Minister of Foreign Affairs Mark Chen (
Lee is familiar with Washington, having started his career as a staff consultant to TECRO and having obtained his master's and doctoral degrees at the nearby University of Virginia.
He was also head of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Boston from 1993 to 1996.
During his TECRO stint in the capital, Lee reminded reporters, he met his wife and the two were married in Washington.
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
RSS