The Presidential Office yesterday expressed gratitude to the US House of Representatives for supporting the right to allow high-level Taiwanese officials to visit the US.
Presidential Office Secretary-General Yu Shyi-kun made the remarks yesterday in response to the amendment passed Wednesday by the US House of Representatives to the Foreign Relations Authorization Act.
In the amendment to the appropriation bill for the US State Department, the House of Representatives said it is in the interests of the US to communicate directly with the democratically-elected government of Taiwan.
Naming specifically Taiwan's president, vice-president, foreign minister and defense minister as those officials authorized to make official visits, the amendment said the State Department should give the green light to such officials to discuss issues of mutual concern.
It added also the State Department should cooperate also with Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs to facilitate high-level meetings between Taiwanese officials and their US counterparts.
Currently, the president, vice president, foreign minister and defense minister are not permitted to visit the US, although Washington had granted a number of top Taiwanese officials -- including President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Vice-President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) -- to stop in the US during flight layovers while travelling to other countries.
In February 2002, Washington permitted then Defense Minister Tang Yao-ming (湯曜明) to attend a defense-related seminar in Florida -- the first time a Taiwanese defense minister was allowed into the US since the US switched recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979.
When asked whether President Chen will visit the US, the Yu said "although Congress has expressed its sentiments, the government will still have to communicate with the US on the matter and make follow-up assessments."
If Taiwanese leaders can make official visits to the US and communicate directly with American leaders, it will certainly advance bilateral relations, he said.
In May, the Committee on Armed Services of the US House of Representatives had also passed the National Defense Authorization Act, which directed the Pentagon to give more latitude regarding the range of military officers permitted to visit Taiwan. Washington currently allows senior military officers and officials from Taiwan to visit the US but not vice versa.
However, two-way visits between senior military officers and officials from the US and China is common, with more than 80 such visits taking place in the 1990s and more than a dozen in the past few years.
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