Taiwan-US, cross-strait ties equally important: Tsai

2016/12/12

President Tsai Ing-wen said Dec. 8 that Taiwan attaches equal importance to relations with the U.S. and mainland China as both are critical to peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region.

She made the remark while receiving a U.S. delegation led by Rosemary A. DiCarlo, president of the National Committee on American Foreign Policy, at the Office of the President in Taipei City.

Tsai stressed that her administration’s diplomatic efforts are intended to safeguard not only Taiwan’s national interests, but also regional peace, stability and prosperity. As a member of the international community, Taiwan is willing to forge friendly ties with other nations and actively participate in international cooperation, she added.

In terms of Taiwan-U.S. relations, the president said the two sides share common values and interests and enjoy close political, economic, social, cultural and security ties. She also thanked the U.S. government for its staunch support of Taiwan over the years and its long-term security commitment to the nation based on the Taiwan Relations Act and Six Assurances.

Signed into law in 1979 after the U.S. switched recognition from Taipei to Beijing, the TRA authorizes the continuation of substantive relations between the people of the U.S. and the people of Taiwan. In 1982, then U.S. President Ronald Reagan issued the Six Assurances, stipulating the U.S. would not set a date for ending arms sales to Taiwan; revise the TRA; consult with mainland China on arms sales to Taiwan; mediate between Taiwan and mainland China; alter its position on the sovereignty of Taiwan or exert pressure on Taiwan to enter into talks with mainland China; or formally recognize mainland Chinese sovereignty over Taiwan.

The president reiterated that Taiwan will continue to be a close and reliable partner of the U.S. in the region and looks forward to working with the next U.S. administration to further deepen bilateral security and economic partnerships as well as strengthen industrial exchanges and cooperation.

Among the visiting delegates were Ambassador J. Stapleton Roy, founding director emeritus of the Kissinger Institute on China and the United States at the Wilson Center, Evans J. R. Revere, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Center for East Asia Policy Studies and Juliet Lee, the acting associate project director for the Forum on Asia-Pacific Security at the NCAFP.

The NCAFP is a nonprofit policy organization with the stated aim of working to identify, articulate and advance U.S. foreign policy interests from a nonpartisan perspective within the framework of political realism.

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=250196&ctNode=2194&mp=9)