The US looks forward to furthering bilateral relations with Taiwan after the US’ 57th presidential election concluded on Tuesday, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) acting director Brent Christensen said yesterday.
“The US-Taiwan relationship is an important one. And the efforts with which we nourish that relationship transcend party lines. We look forward to continue deepening of the US-Taiwan relationship under our next presidential administration,” he said.
Christensen spoke to hundreds of guests at a US presidential election “result viewing” event in Taipei while the vote count was ongoing.
“The democratic process is a critical element of democracy and we have seen [the] successful demonstration of that process in both Taiwan and the US this year. The elections in the US, as well as in Taiwan earlier this year, were obviously extremely close,” he said.
Christensen said the hard fought race between US President Barack Obama and Republican candidate Mitt Romney was a great illustration of the free and fair nature of the US elecotral process.
“This democratic process is an important value that the US and Taiwan share. We congratulate both candidates on the success of this race and on this election process,” he said.
Later yesterday, following confirmation of Obama’s victory, AIT spokesperson Sheila Paskman said: “With the re-election of President Obama, we expect things to continue as they are at this time. We don’t expect any dramatic changes in US-Taiwan relations.”
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