The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) yesterday reiterated that the security arrangements at its new compound in Taipei’s Neihu District (內湖) would be the same as at its present site.
“As is the practice at AIT’s current location, a small number of American personnel detailed to AIT, along with a larger number of locally hired employees, will provide security for the new office building, in cooperation with local authorities,” AIT spokesperson Amanda Mansour said in an e-mail.
The AIT official’s comments came after the Chinese-language Liberty Times and its sister newspaper the Taipei Times ran front-page stories yesterday saying that US sources had informed national security officials that a small contingent of US Marines would be posted at the Neihu compound.
The report followed a statement last year by former AIT director Stephen Young that gave similar information.
Former AIT director Kin Moy, who left Taiwan earlier this month, said before his departure that there was already a small number of US personnel at the current main AIT office on Xinyi Road who were coordinating with Taiwanese security staff and the situation would continue in Neihu.
“We don’t make political statements with our security,” Mansour said. “What we do is we bring a sufficient number of people to coordinate with local staff to ensure that the people inside our buildings are very safe.”
The AIT is expected to officially move to its new facility in Neihu this fall.
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