A delegation led by US Undersecretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment Keith Krach yesterday ended their visit, with the government saying that Taiwan and the US would continue to bolster economic ties.
After arriving in Taiwan on Thursday afternoon, the delegation yesterday attended a memorial service for former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) and exchanged opinions with high-ranking officials and members of different sectors over various issues, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
Krach is the highest-ranking US Department of State official to visit Taiwan since the two nations cut relations in 1979, it said.
Photo provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs via CNA
Based on discussions with the group, the government would continue to work with the US to strengthen economic ties and bilateral partnerships, it added.
After hosting an evening banquet with delegation members at the presidential residence on Friday, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) posted several photographs of the meeting on Facebook, which showed that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) founder Morris Chang (張忠謀) also attended the dinner.
They were joined by Vice Premier Shen Jong-chin (沈榮津), Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua (王美花), National Security Council Secretary-General Wellington Koo (顧立雄) and Minister Without Portfolio John Deng (鄧振中).
Photo: AFP / Presidential Office
Tsai wrote on Facebook that they had in-depth exchanges, adding that she hopes for additional dialogue.
Most of the US delegation’s meetings were held behind closed doors, unlike last month’s visit from a delegation led by US Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar.
Keeping Krach’s meetings low-profile was not entirely Taiwan’s choice, a source familiar with the matter said, adding that there were some communications between agencies in Washington.
The Office of the US Trade Representative, which manages trade discussions, was viewing the visit closely, and might decide Taiwan has not made enough concessions or be watching how it resolves a disagreement over US pork imports containing ractopamine residues, they said.
The office might also be concerned if Krach’s delegation made too many commitments to Taiwan that create obstacles to future trade negotiations, they added.
Krach’s visit to Taiwan is already a diplomatic breakthrough, showing that Taiwan and the US can have more direct and closer communication, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) said.
Prior to the administration of US President Donald Trump, Taiwan’s affairs were rarely a priority for the US, and Washington often viewed Taiwan through the lens of Beijing, he added.
After Krach commenced “preparatory talks” for the Taiwan-US Economic and Commercial Dialogue, other US officials might visit, he said.
Meanwhile, Chang’s attendance at the banquet showed that Taiwan could play a vital role in the US’ plans to promote its 5G Clean Path initiative and restructuring supply chains related to information technology, Wang added.
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday inaugurated the Danjiang Bridge across the Tamsui River in New Taipei City, saying that the structure would be an architectural icon and traffic artery for Taiwan. Feted as a major engineering achievement, the Danjiang Bridge is 920m long, 211m tall at the top of its pylon, and is the longest single-pylon asymmetric cable-stayed bridge in the world, the government’s Web site for the structure said. It was designed by late Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid. The structure, with a maximum deck of 70m, accommodates road and light rail traffic, and affords a 200m navigation channel for boats,
PRECISION STRIKES: The most significant reason to deploy HIMARS to outlying islands is to establish a ‘dead zone’ that the PLA would not dare enter, a source said A High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) would be deployed to Penghu County and Dongyin Island (東引) in Lienchiang County (Matsu) to force the Chinese military to retreat at least 100km from the coastline, a military source said yesterday. Taiwan has been procuring HIMARS and Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) from the US in batches. Once all batches have been delivered, Taiwan would possess 111 HIMARS units and 504 ATACMS, which have a range of 300km. Considering that “offense is the best defense,” the military plans to forward-deploy the systems to outlying islands such as Penghu and Dongyin so that
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest foundry service provider, yesterday said that global semiconductor revenue is projected to hit US$1.5 trillion in 2030, after the figure exceeds US$1 trillion this year, as artificial intelligence (AI) demand boosts consumption of token and compute power. “We are still at the beginning of the AI revolution, but we already see a significant impact across the whole semiconductor ecosystem,” TSMC deputy cochief operating officer Kevin Zhang (張曉強) said at the company’s annual technology symposium in Hsinchu City. “It is fair to say that in the past decade, smartphones and other mobile devices were
‘CLEAR MESSAGE’: The bill would set up an interagency ‘tiger team’ to review sanctions tools and other economic options to help deter any Chinese aggression toward Taiwan US Representative Young Kim has introduced a bill to deter Chinese aggression against Taiwan, calling for an interagency “tiger team” to preplan coordinated sanctions and economic measures in response to possible Chinese military or political action against Taiwan. “[Chinese President] Xi Jinping [習近平] has directed the People’s Liberation Army to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027. China has a plan. America should have one too,” Kim said in a news release on Thursday last week. She introduced the “Deter PRC [People’s Republic of China] aggression against Taiwan act” to “ensure the US has a coordinated sanctions strategy ready should
RSS