The US has strengthened its relationship with Taiwan since launching its strategy of “rebalancing” toward the Asia-Pacific region, the White House said on Monday ahead of US President Barack Obama’s ninth trip to the region.
The White House said in a statement that Obama’s trip reflects the region’s growing importance to US national interests and the administration’s commitment to advancing its broader regional “pivot to Asia” strategy, which involves assigning increased political, economic and security resources to the region.
In terms of its vision for the Asia-Pacific region, the US seeks to preserve and enhance a stable and diversified security order in which nations pursue their objectives peacefully and in accordance with international law, and shared norms and principles, the White House said.
“Our priority is to strengthen cooperation among our partners in the region, leveraging their significant and growing capabilities to build a network of like-minded states that sustains and strengthens a rules-based regional order and addresses regional and global challenges,” the White House said.
Through the strategy, the US has “deepened partnerships with Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam and India, and strengthened our unofficial relationship with the people of Taiwan,” it added.
During Obama’s trip, he is to attend an APEC summit in Manila and also visit Malaysia for ASEAN-related meetings, including the East Asia Summit.
The White House said that the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is central to the US’ vision for the region’s future, and Obama is to meet with the leaders of TPP nations in Manila to celebrate the conclusion of the bloc’s negotiations.
Obama is also to urge all claimants in the South China Sea to halt further land reclamation, construction of new facilities and militarization of features they occupy, to reduce tensions and create diplomatic space for lasting, lawful and peaceful solutions to emerge, the White House statement said.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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