President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday congratulated Donald Trump on his inauguration as the US’ 47th president, saying Taiwan looks forward to working with the new administration.
“Sincere congratulations to @realDonaldTrump & @JDVance on your inauguration as #POTUS & #VP. #Taiwan looks forward to working with your administration to promote enduring freedom, peace & prosperity around the world. We wish you great success in the years ahead,” Lai wrote on X.
Taiwanese officials had been invited to attend the inauguration ceremony outside the Capitol, but due to the frigid weather, the ceremony was moved inside to the Capitol Rotunda, significantly reducing the number of attendees, including Taiwan’s delegation, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO) in Washington said.
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
Through the joint efforts of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), TECRO and the US government, Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui (俞大?) were able to watch the inauguration via livestream in the Emancipation Hall of the Capitol Visitor Center, MOFA spokesman Hsiao Kuang-wei (蕭光偉) said.
The other seven members of the cross-party lawmakers’ delegation led by Han were able to watch the livestream in a VIP box in the Capital One Arena, he added.
The arrangements demonstrated the important results of the long-term hard work in strengthening Taiwan-US relations and establishing connections with Taiwan-friendly people, Hsiao said.
Photo: CNA
Lawmakers on the delegation praised the ministry and the representative office in the US for proactively dealing with the unexpected changes, and their praise is the greatest encouragement to frontline co-workers, but it was achieved because there are MOFA resources to maintain Taiwan-US relations, he said.
The Legislative Yuan’s decision to significantly cut and freeze the ministry’s budget this year would seriously affect diplomatic work, he added.
Speaking to reporters after the event, Han acknowledged that Trump emphasized “America First” in his inaugural speech.
Han called for more collaboration between the US and Taiwan, which has a global edge in semiconductors and high-tech industries, saying it would be mutually beneficial.
Yui said the Taiwanese delegation’s participation at the inauguration went well and demonstrated that “Taiwan was not absent.”
Taiwan will continue to build on the existing foundation to promote exchanges and collaborations with the Trump administration across various fields, TECRO said, while thanking the US for its arrangements for the Taiwanese delegation.
In Taipei, Deputy Legislative Speaker Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) yesterday said that Trump’s foreign policy might signal a reshuffling of the global order that requires agility and flexibility for Taiwan to navigate.
Taiwan might need a “Taiwan first” policy in response to Trump’s America first, he said.
Republicans’ majority in the US Senate and House of Representatives meant Trump could reshape international trade, the global geopolitical landscape or reshuffle the international order virtually without constraint, he said.
In his inaugural speech, Trump renamed the Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America, while claiming to wish to be a peacemaker and unifier, showing that the returning president meant to implement his campaign platform, Chiang said.
Trump emphasized boosting US manufacturing via tariffs and steering away from foreign military entanglements, suggesting that the US and China would continue to compete without war, he said.
The remarks also indicated that the global geopolitics might change significantly under Trump to impact Taiwan’s relations with China and the US and their trilateral relationship, as well as the stability of the Indo-Pacific region, Chiang said.
As the sixth-largest contributor to the US trade deficit, Taiwan should be prepared for possibly facing tariffs, he said.
The use of tariffs as weapons, transactional relationships and continued dialogue would likely mark the Trump administration 2.0’s handling of foreign affairs, he said.
Additional reporting by Liu Wan-ling
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