President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday in a meeting with American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Sandra Oudkirk said that she hoped Taiwan and the US will work together to advance their relationship.
Tsai said she was pleased to again meet Oudkirk, who assumed her post last month, and welcomed her on behalf of the government and the public to Taiwan for a second assignment.
Taipei was Oudkirk’s first overseas assignment after joining the US Foreign Service in 1991. She served as a consular officer at the AIT from 1992 to 1994. She later visited Taiwan in October 2019 as a senior US official for the APEC forum and deputy assistant secretary of state to attend the inaugural Pacific Islands Dialogue and Yushan Forum, and met Tsai during that trip.
Photo: CNA
Tsai mentioned at the meeting the US’ donation of 2.5 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to Taiwan in June and the resumption of talks under the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement after a nearly five-year hiatus the same month.
Tsai said she hoped the two countries will continue to strengthen their cooperation in areas such as investment, trade and supply chain security, and move toward the establishment of a bilateral trade agreement.
In terms of security, Tsai thanked the administration of US President Joe Biden for its announcement last week of its first weapons sale to Taiwan.
Oudkirk thanked Tsai for her warm greeting, and said she hoped to work with Tsai and her team to strengthen and expand Taiwan-US relations.
In related news, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday said KMT Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) has reiterated his party’s approach of being “close to the US” and having “peace with the Mainland [China],” as well as its defense of the Republic of China in a virtual discussion on Monday with experts close to US policymakers.
Chiang told participants that the KMT has always supported closer bilateral relations with the US, and that he believes deepening the partnership between Taiwan and the US would be in the US’ interest and conducive to peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region, the party said in a statement.
“The KMT is the most staunch defender of the Constitution and sovereignty of the Republic of China,” the KMT quoted Chiang as saying.
Chiang also said the KMT adopts the position of “close to the US, peace with the Mainland,” and that as long as Washington and Beijing are not entirely hostile toward each other, enhancing relations with the US while improving cross-strait relations were not conflicting ideas, it said.
Former AIT acting chairman David Brown and Andrew Mertha, director of the China Studies program at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, were among those who attended the meeting, the KMT said.
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