American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Kin Moy yesterday said the US would be consistent in handling transit stops by the leaders of Taiwan, who will be received based on considerations of safety, comfort, convenience and dignity.
“We will be very consistent in the way that we handle transits in the future, so I would not see any major departure from what you have seen in the past,” Moy said in response to media questions as to what level of courtesy the US would extend to President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) during her first state visit later this month.
Moy said during a tea gathering with the press in Taipei that the US has handled such transit stops for many years.
Tsai is scheduled to embark on a nine-day overseas trip from Friday next week to July 2, during which the president is set to visit Panama and Paraguay, two of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies in Latin America, and to make transit stops at two US cities, Miami and Los Angeles.
However, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taipei and Washington are still working out the details for Tsai’s transit stops in the US.
Moy also shrugged off speculation that China has been a factor in the perceived delay in Washington in the planning process for the president’s scheduled transits.
“In my career … [it] used to be the job of the [US] State Department to accompany senior travelers, in particular the secretary of state, when they made formal diplomatic visits overseas. In my own experience, we very rarely had a schedule 10 days before a visitor’s transit takes place,” Moy said.
“So this does not come as a surprise to me. I am not aware of any sort of delays. I think we are going ahead and again in accordance with the safety, comfort, convenience and dignity of the traveler,” he added.
Turning to Tsai’s “new southbound policy,” Moy said the US is very supportive of such a policy to bolster trade with Southeast Asia because there is great potential in the area in terms of markets, resources and talent.
“All countries and economies should be looking for more opportunities to diversify trade and their economy … because you would not want to rely on one or just a few potential markets,” Moy said.
Doing so would put countries at a competitive disadvantage and allow others to have leverage on them, Moy said, lauding Tsai’s policy as a smart move.
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