Taiwan and the US should continue deepening defense ties amid concerns about “real wars,” former US assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs Randall Schriver said in a video released by the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) yesterday.
In the video, AIT spokeswoman Amanda Mansour presents a short interview of Schriver, now the chairman of the Washington-based think tank Project 2049 Institute, recorded during his visit to Taiwan from Monday to Friday last week — his first overseas trip since leaving the Pentagon last year.
Asked what progress he sees on the horizon for Taiwan-US relations, as the AIT’s theme for this year is “Real Friends, Real Progress,” Schriver said that there are many opportunities for bilateral collaboration in defense and other military issues.
While the opportunities are driven by concerns about real wars and growing threats, the current environment allows the US and Taiwan to deepen defense ties, make them more meaningful and put bilateral relations on a good trajectory, he said.
While he did not name the actors behind the threats mentioned in his speech, the video briefly shows Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.
The US’ Taiwan Travel Act was one of the few pieces of legislation that garnered unanimous support for passage in the US Congress, Schriver said.
Separately on Thursday, the AIT announced that AIT Chairman James Moriarty would visit Taiwan from tomorrow to Saturday next week.
It is to be Moriarty’s eighth trip to Taiwan since his appointment as AIT chairman, the US’ de facto embassy said in a statement, without detailing the purpose of his visit.
In other developments, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday welcomed a resolution proposed by US senators Cory Gardner, Jim Risch and Ed Markey aimed at encouraging US President Donald Trump to send a high-level official delegation to attend the inauguration ceremony of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) scheduled for May 20.
The resolution also called for the White House to continue supporting Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international bodies, such as the WHO, the International Civil Aviation Organization and the International Criminal Police Organization, commonly known as Interpol.
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