The US Department of State on Tuesday announced that a department official would join a political and military dialogue with Taiwan today.
Taipei did not provide details about the dialogue except to say that both sides maintain close cooperation.
US Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs Clarke Cooper is to deliver opening remarks at the virtual dialogue at 7:30am Taipei time, a schedule on the department’s Web site showed.
Photo: CNA
Cooper, who assumed his post in May 2019, in August posted on Twitter a photograph showing a meeting with then-representative to the US Stanley Kao (高碩泰).
The meeting was to “recommit to an #US and #Taiwan Political-Military Dialogue to promote peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and region,” he wrote on Twitter.
While the department’s schedule did not reveal the agenda of the meeting, the Central News Agency (CNA) reported that regional issues, bilateral cooperation in military affairs and arms sales would be the focal points.
Officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of National Defense would take part in the meeting, CNA reported.
Asked about the level of its representation, the defense ministry yesterday only said that the matter should be commented on by the foreign ministry.
Taiwan and the US maintain diverse communications channels that cover different levels and issues of common interest, to continue deepening bilateral cooperation in political, economic and security matters, foreign ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) said in a statement.
Considering mutual trust and understanding, the foreign ministry would not provide more details about the dialogue, Ou said.
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
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