After three visits to the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) headquarters in Washington, Taiwan People’s Party Chairman (TPP) Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) on Friday said that “at this stage, Taiwan is very important to the US.”
Ko visited Representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) for a 30-minute closed-door meeting at the Twin Oaks estate in Washington on Friday, with sources saying that they discussed how to expand Taiwan’s diplomatic space using its economic and cultural strengths.
Ko also thanked the consular staff for their hard work, the sources said.
Photo: CNA
After the meeting, Ko told reporters that he had met with everyone he needed to meet in the US, and that the US takes Taiwan very seriously.
As the US-China conflict has escalated, Taiwan has become more important to the US, he said, adding that Hsiao agreed.
It is now easier to meet with US representatives and senators, he said.
Ko, who announced his intention to run as the TPP’s candidate in next year’s presidential election, said his itinerary was mainly arranged by the AIT, so he met with whoever they wanted him to meet and he visited the AIT headquarters three times.
“I met with everyone I needed to meet, and there was sufficient communication between everyone,” he said, adding that if he had been visiting as a mayor, he would have gone to the US Department of State or the US Department of Defense, but visiting as a presidential candidate meant the meetings were held in the AIT headquarters.
Ko said he does not deserve all the credit for the meetings, as they were a result of Taiwan becoming more important to the US.
As the US believes China to be its biggest threat, “it arranged its highest-ranking official in the region to handle the issue,” he said.
When asked whether the US government has more trust in him or Vice President William Lai (賴清德), who the Democratic Progressive Party has named as its presidential candidate, Ko said that the US-Taiwan relationship would remain the same regardless of who the next president is, but their attitude toward China could be different.
Asked whether the US government accepts his stance on cross-strait relations, Ko said that although the US and China are competing, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said the US’ relationship with China would be “competitive when it should be, collaborative when it can be, adversarial when it must be.”
“If the US takes such a strategy toward China, then Taiwan should also take the same strategy, and not be adversarial when collaboration is possible,” he said, adding that the US government is not against Taiwan communicating with China.
Foreigners see Taiwan as a divided country, he said, adding that he received advice from a high-ranking Singaporean official who said that a country must first reach an internal consensus to be capable of handling foreign affairs.
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