Taipei Times: As the most senior US official to visit Taiwan in more than a decade, how would you characterize your trip?
Rajiv Shah: I am very enthusiastic about the opportunity to visit Taiwan. The purpose of my visit is to explore opportunities in which the USA can partner with Taiwan and a number of different areas in development cooperation.
We met today with the president [Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九)], government officials and leaders from the private sector, businesses and philanthropies in order to explore whether we can broaden our partnership and pursue our development goals: to help eliminate food insecurity and hunger, to accelerate saving as many children’s lives as possible in low-income countries around the world and to help improve the ways the international community responds to disasters wherever they occur.
We are excited about the progress we hope to make and really want to build on Taiwan’s emerging work in support of this type of developing partnership.
TT: However, a high-level visit by a US official to Taiwan is always a political indicator of bilateral relations. Is there any political connotation to your visit?
Shah: I will see if Bill [American Institute in Taiwan Director William Stanton] would like to answer that. From my perspective, I was just in meetings in South Korea, where the entire global development community of more than 25,000 people came together to create new standards, norms and new global partnerships to reaffirm our commitment to development and trying to alleviate suffering and supporting economic growth around the world. And the theme of that meeting was that we should do everything we can to bring new partners to the fore to achieve better outcomes. Taiwan is one of those new partners.
Taiwan already has spending resources in other countries for the purpose for expanding access to vaccines, helping in Haiti or Japan at times of international crisis. We would like to expand our partnerships there.
TT: Was your trip arranged in line with remarks made by US President Barack Obama and US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton regarding resumption of visits by US senior officials to Taiwan?
Shah: Secretary Clinton in particular has asked the USA to make sure we are doing everything we can in Asia where our assistance can be used to help create more economic opportunities and to help alleviate suffering so that we build a safer and more prosperous world. And, frankly, being here at this [“American Footprints in -Taiwan”] exhibit is a good example of why we do this work.
Our partnerships with Taiwan back in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s represented a relatively small investment — US$1.5 billion, at that time — but as a result of the successful partnership, Taiwan is one of our largest trading partners. We have jobs at home because of that partnership. That’s why we made this type of investment in development both to improve conditions for people around the world and to ensure jobs and economic prosperity at home.
TT: US-Taiwan relations seem to be stagnating in comparison with other Asian countries that have ties with the US strategically, militarily or economically.
Shah: No, in the area of international cooperation in development, Taiwan has a lot to offer. Taiwanese vaccine manufacturers can create low-cost, high-quality vaccines and help save lives around the world. If we could engage those Taiwanese experts in science, technology and agriculture in other parts of the world, we could reduce child malnutrition and improve global efforts to end hunger. We are optimistic that our joint efforts can really achieve results around the world.
TT: From the perspective of humanitarian assistance, is China a factor impeding cooperation between the US and Taiwan?
Shah: The US has started with all countries during their times of needs and suffering. A few years ago, the US was part of the response to the typhoon here in Taiwan. The US worked with the international community to support children and vulnerable families after the earthquake in China. At times of immediate humanitarian crisis, the world needs to come together and to lend a hand to those who are suffering. We do that in a way that is formed by humanitarian not political principles.
TT: This morning when you answered questions from the audience after your speech, some people called for US assistance to help Taiwan in issues like poverty and agricultural reform. Is USAID considering launching new projects?
Shah: Taiwan basically graduated from US assistance decades ago. As an economically successful economy, we want to continue to encourage Taiwan’s engagement as a donor, making investments abroad. This trip is not about spending direct development assistance in Taiwan because it’s not necessary or appropriate. It’s about engaging a deeper cooperation and partnership so that we can achieve better outcomes abroad.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater