The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) yesterday congratulated Vice President William Lai (賴清德) on winning the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairperson election and said it would work with him on promoting “shared democratic values and common interests.”
Lai was sworn in on Wednesday after being elected DPP chairperson with 99.65 percent of the votes on Sunday.
A Financial Times article on Monday said that Lai once described himself as a “pragmatic political worker for Taiwan independence,” which it said prompted concerns in the US.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Quoting an anonymous US government official, the report said that some officials have misgivings about Lai’s stance on cross-strait issues.
It also quoted Ivan Kanapathy, who served on the White House’s National Security Council as director for China, Taiwan and Mongolia, as saying considering that Lai is a likely candidate in next year’s presidential election, his experience and the experience of his advisers on international or cross-strait affairs are concerning.
On Wednesday, Lai said at his swearing-in that Taiwan is already a sovereign and independent nation and therefore does not need to declare its independence.
The AIT issued a statement yesterday congratulating Lai on his election and said: “We look forward to working with Chairman Lai to promote our shared democratic values and interests.”
Lai last year attended the AIT’s banquet for the 246th US Independence Day on behalf of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).
After the banquet, the AIT posted a selfie of Lai and AIT Director Sandra Oudkirk, with the caption reading: “When it comes to the U.S.-Taiwan friendship, things just click!”
It has been a long-standing practice of the AIT to congratulate new party leaders, including Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) and Eric Chu (朱立倫) when they won the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairperson race, and express its hopes on working together.
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