Mon, Dec 02, 2024 page2

• Lai’s US stopovers show friendly Taiwan-US ties

  ‘VERY GOOD’ RELATIONS: The US inviting Lai to visit the USS Arizona Memorial was a sign of its commitment to working with Taiwan on containing China, an expert said

  • By Huang Ching-yi and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writer
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  President William Lai’s (賴清德) stopovers in the US demonstrate friendly Taiwan-US relations under Lai’s leadership, two Taiwanese researchers said yesterday.

  Lai yesterday made a two-day stopover in Honolulu on the way to a state visit to three Pacific allies. He is expected to transit through Guam on Wednesday on his return to Taiwan. The seven-day trip to the South Pacific is Lai’s first official overseas visit since assuming office in May.

  The transits in Hawaii and Guam are consistent with past practices and reflect a “very good” state of bilateral relations with the US, University of St Thomas International Studies and Modern Languages chair Yeh Yao-Yuan (葉耀元) said.

  

  President William Lai, second left, visits the Hawaiian State Emergency Management Agency with Hawaiian Governor Josh Green, second right, in Honolulu, Hawaii, on Sunday.

  Photo courtesy of the Presidential Office

  “In the past, when our country’s heads of state visited allies in the Pacific, they would transit through Hawaii and Guam, since both are also located in the Pacific,” Yeh said. “Transits through parts of the US, cooperation with the US or itineraries with exchanges arranged by parties in the US — these things are all significant and are reflections of good relations.”

  China’s rapid military expansion and the strengthening of its naval posture in recent years have been seen by the US as a national security threat, he said.

  Therefore, the US inviting Lai to visit the USS Arizona Memorial during his stopover in Hawaii could be viewed as a sign of the US’ commitment to working with Taiwan on containing China, he added.

  Separately, Soochow University Department of Political Science assistant professor Chen Fang-yu (陳方隅) also said that Lai’s itinerary during the two stopovers reflected a congruency between Taiwan and the US on certain key issues, including disaster prevention and self-defense resilience.

  For example, during Lai’s visit to the Hawaiian Emergency Management Agency, talks centered on disaster prevention guidelines, which “echo the core spirit of Taiwan’s Whole-of-Society Defense Resilience Committee and coincide with the primary policy objectives of the Lai administration,” he said.

  Disaster prevention and resilience are part of the goals of the Global Cooperation and Training Framework between Taiwan and the US, and are areas where the two countries can negotiate more opportunities for cooperation, Chen said.

  Taiwan’s emphasis on disaster relief and self-defense resilience in recent years was born out of cooperation with the US government and the US National Guard, he added.

  During the stopover, Lai also visited the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, which is relevant to discussions on Austronesian cultural exchanges — one of the future promotion focuses for public diplomacy, Chen said.

  Additionally, Lai’s visit to the USS Arizona Memorial was significant, because the attack on Pearl Harbor during World War II was the impetus for the US’ development of the “first island chain” defense strategy, of which Taiwan is a part, he said.

  “Since that attack, the US grew determined not to let any country approach it again from the sea. The first island chain has been part of the US’ core strategic thinking since,” Chen said.
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