Taiwan is willing to conduct exchanges and cooperate with China on the conditions of parity and dignity, President William Lai (賴清德) said during a reception in Taipei with a US delegation led by Brookings Institution president Cecilia Rouse yesterday.
Lai welcomed Rouse on her first visit to Taiwan, saying that the Brookings Institution is a prominent US think tank whose research is extensively utilized by the US government and widely affects the international political and economic landscape.
The increasingly complex global strategic situation and coordinated aggression by authoritarian regimes — China, Russia, North Korea and Iran — highlight the need for democratic countries to stand together, Lai said.
Photo courtesy of the Presidential Office
Taiwan “wholeheartedly” thanks the US and other democracies for supporting Taiwan and expressing public concern over China’s continued efforts to alter the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait, he said.
Situated at a crucial point in the US “Island Chain” strategy and at the front line of a network of island democracies, Lai said that Taiwan would continue to adhere to his “Four Pillars” policy to ensure Taiwan’s security, peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region.
In an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal in July last year, Lai defined the four pillars as building up the nation’s defense capabilities, promoting economic security and fostering supply chain resilience, forming partnerships with other democracies and maintaining steady and principled cross-strait leadership.
Photo courtesy of the Presidential Office
The initial batch of agreements under the Taiwan-US Initiative on 21st-Century Trade officially entered into effect last week, marking a significant bilateral trade and economic milestone for Taiwan and the US, Lai said.
The benefits of the initiative extend beyond trade and economics and into the fields of security, education and culture, he added.
Taiwan looks forward to cooperating with the US and other democracies and jointly navigating a complex global landscape as a force for good and promoting worldwide democracy and prosperity.
Rouse thanked Lai for his insights and said that her visit to Taiwan — her first major overseas trip as the institution’s president — underscored Taiwan’s role as a crucial and central actor in the global economy and a key factor in preserving peace and stability in Asia.
Despite her visit occurring during a transitional period for the US, Rouse said the shared interest and values that bind the two peoples endure despite the quadrennial change in leadership.
The meeting with Lai and other leaders in Taiwan would allow the institution to better understand Taiwan, Rouse added.
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