Speaking about former US official Kurt Campbell, who has been tapped by US president-elect Joe Biden to join his Cabinet, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday expressed confidence in his knowledge of cross-strait affairs.
Campbell, who is chairman of Washington-based advisory firm Asia Group, served as assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs from 2009 to 2013 under then-US president Barack Obama.
The Asia Group on Wednesday confirmed that Campbell is to join the Biden administration as the deputy assistant to the president and coordinator for Indo-Pacific affairs on the National Security Council.
Photo: AFP
Naming the veteran foreign policy expert for the newly created role of “Asia tsar” is a move designed to reflect the growing importance of US-China relations, the Financial Times reported.
Expressing her congratulations to Campbell, Representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) wrote on Twitter that he “is well known and highly respected around Asia.”
“He has strategic vision as well as practical experience. I look forward to working with him in the future,” she added.
Campbell has been friendly to Taiwan and kept abreast of the latest developments across the Taiwan Strait, as well as Taiwan-US relations, Department of North American Affairs Director-General Douglas Hsu (徐佑典) said yesterday in response to media queries.
Campbell last month gave a virtual speech at the Taiwan-US-Japan Trilateral Indo-Pacific Security Dialogue, hosted by the Prospect Foundation in Taipei. President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) also participated.
US Democrats and Republicans alike understand the challenges presented by Beijing’s military and economic aggression in the Indo-Pacific region, as well as the strategic interest of maintaining a strong relationship with Taiwan, Campbell said at the time.
Taipei and Beijing should resume some dialogue to ease cross-strait tensions, he said.
However, the initiative appeared to be in Beijing’s hands, Campbell added.
With his insightful analyses, Campbell and his new post are believed to be positive developments for the future of Taiwan-US relations and the region, Hsu said.
Regarding US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer’s comments about unresolved trade disputes, including a trade deficit, with Taiwan, Hsu said that it is never too soon to seek solutions to issues in Taiwan-US relations.
INCURSION: After 13 PLA aircraft flew into Taiwan’s ADIZ, the US Department of State said that China should rather ‘engage in meaningful dialogue’ with Taiwan US President Joe Biden’s administration on Saturday urged China to stop placing military pressure on Taiwan, while calling on both sides of the Taiwan Strait to engage in peaceful dialogue. The statement by the US Department of State was issued after 13 Chinese military aircraft flew into Taiwan’s southwest air defense identification zone (ADIZ) on Saturday, the highest number observed in a single day this year, the Ministry of National Defense said. The air force scrambled fighter jets to monitor the Chinese aircraft, issuing radio warnings and mobilizing air defense assets until the planes left the ADIZ. The US “notes
‘INCREASED VIGILANCE’: A source of infection has not yet been found for the latest two cases in a hospital cluster, which should serve as a warning, Chen Shih-chung said A total of 2,991 people associated with a COVID-19 cluster infection at Taoyuan General Hospital have been put under home isolation, after an emergency expanded isolation order was issued on Sunday evening, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday. Fifteen people have so far tested positive in the cluster infection. The first case in the cluster (case No. 838) was reported on Jan. 12 — a doctor who treated an infected patient who had returned from the US. Contact tracing for the first 13 cases found connections to case No. 838, said Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who
CHANGE OF GUARD: Hsiao Bi-khim’s attendance at Joe Biden’s inauguration will come as a boost to those in Taiwan who feared that the new US administration would be less friendly than that of Donald Trump to the nation Representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) is to attend US President Joe Biden’s swearing-in ceremony at the US Capitol after she was invited by the US Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, a news release issued by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO) in the US said last night. The news came as a surprise as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had been reticent about the matter, while Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) members had accused the Democratic Progressive Party administration of hedging its bets on the Republican Party. Asked about when Hsiao received the invitation, the ministry did not
FAMILY UNIT: The CECC warned that the eldest sister of the latest case, who also has COVID-19, visited Taoyuan’s Chungping evening market on Tuesday and Wednesday The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported a domestic case of COVID-19, associated with a recent cluster infection at Taoyuan General Hospital, and two imported cases. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that the latest case (No. 885) is a woman in her 50s, who is the third daughter of case No. 881, a man in his 90s. The woman is the main caregiver of her elderly father, who had been hospitalized earlier this month and was treated by a nurse (case No. 852) from Monday to Thursday last week, he said, adding that
RSS