President Tsai receives senatorial delegation, pledges to expand Taiwan-US ties

2021/06/08

President Tsai Ing-wen received a senatorial delegation June 6 at Taipei Songshan Airport, pledging to expand Taiwan-U.S. ties and the country’s contribution to the international community.
 
The visit of U.S. Sens. Tammy Duckworth, Dan Sullivan and Chris Coons reflects bipartisan congressional support for Taiwan and bilateral relations, Tsai said. All three are long-standing friends of Taiwan deeply invested in strengthening the two sides’ rock-solid friendship. She added.
 
At a time when the government and people are fully focused on staging the COVID-19 fightback, Tsai said, the trio’s show of staunch support for the country is sincerely appreciated.
 
The senators, who arrived on a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III aircraft the same day, were welcomed by Foreign Minister Jaushieh Joseph Wu, American Institute in Taiwan Director Brent Christensen. They spent three hours in country prior to departing for South Korea.
 
In a tweet on the official Twitter account of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Wu said “I’m honored to receive Sens. Duckworth, Sullivan & Coons. They came to announce a great #Vaccine donation bolstering our #COVID19 response & to show unwavering support for #Taiwan in the face of #China’s threats. We stand with fellow democracies in fighting authoritarianism. JW.”
 
According to Tsai, Taiwan, the U.S. and other like-minded partners are cooperating closely in addressing challenges posed by the pandemic. A recent and highly relevant example is the jointly staged forum on vaccination strategies and disease management staged under the auspices of the Global Cooperation and Training Framework, she said.
 
Even amid coronavirus, Tsai said, the two sides are forging ahead with a raft of cooperation mechanisms in key areas such as 5G, science and technology, telecommunications security and trade, as well as safeguarding a free, open, peaceful and prosperous Indo-Pacific.
 
In the past few days, Taiwan has acquired more COVID-19 vaccines due to the assistance of the U.S. and Japan, Tsai said. As the country faces a surge in coronavirus case numbers, the government and people are grateful for the backing of President Joe Biden’s administration and the inclusion of Taiwan in its allocation plan for sharing the first 25 million doses worldwide, she added.
 
Tsai said she has every confidence current challenges are to be overcome in good order, adding that the government will continue working to bolster Taiwan-U.S. relations, strengthen the global response to the pandemic and lay the foundations for a post-pandemic bounceback. 


Source: Taiwan Today (https://taiwantoday.tw/index.php)