The US is seeking dialogue with China and encourages Taiwan’s presidential candidates to do the same, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Sandra Oudkirk said.
“Dialogue is good. Dialogue is useful,” Oudkirk said during the TV program Da Win Dining (大雲時堂) on Friday.
She said she hopes that US officials can engage more with their Chinese counterparts.
Photo: Screen grab from Da Win Dining’s YouTube channel
The US “would certainly not stand in the way of anyone else wanting to do that,” Oudkirk said, adding that hopefully communications can ease cross-strait tensions.
Regarding Taiwan’s presidential election in January next year, Oudkirk said the election outcome would not affect US President Joe Biden’s promise to Taiwan.
The US’ support for Taiwan is bipartisan and comes from the US House of Representatives and the US Senate, she said, adding that it “has not wavered as our administrations change or as leadership changes here in Taiwan.”
The AIT is familiar with the presidential candidates — Vice President William Lai (賴清德), former Taipei mayor and Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) — and their accomplishments, as it has been working closely with the local governments of Taipei and New Taipei City, as well as the vice president’s office, she said.
Having met all three candidates, Oudkirk said: “I like them all.”
The candidates all expressed a willingness to communicate with China from different angles, which is “certainly one that we [the US] would support,” she said.
Regarding US-Taiwan relations, Oudkirk said she thinks that the relationship between Taiwan and the US “is the best that it’s ever been,” and praised Taiwan’s successful democratic transition and robust democratic institutions.
The US supports the “status quo,” which is peaceful and stable, not coercive, and has enabled peace and prosperity in Taiwan, China and other countries in the region, she said.
“Being the director is my favorite part” about Taiwan, Oudkirk said, adding that “it is an honor and a pleasure to work with people. And then Taiwan itself is just amazing.”
The priorities of the AIT include ensuring that Taiwan has the ability to defend itself and promoting the already strong trade relations by encouraging Taiwanese investment in the US and vice versa, she said.
The coast guard drove away 567 Chinese boats and seized seven illegally operating in Taiwanese waters in the first six months of this year, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. They mostly operated near Kinmen and Penghu counties, resulting in fines totaling NT$1.7 million (US$52,440), it said. Three ships — two near Kinmen County and one near Penghu County — were detained in January for illegally crossing the border, while one ship each was detained near Kinmen in February and Penghu in March respectively, it said. The ship seized near Penghu in January was the Yun Ao (雲澳), detained by the CGA’s
The entire Alishan Forest Railway line is to reopen for the first time in 15 years on Saturday, with tickets to go on sale at 2pm today. The historic railway from Chiayi to Alishan (阿里山) is finally set to reopen after the completion of the final No. 42 tunnel, Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office Deputy Director-General Chou Heng-kai (周恆凱) said. It is to run on a new timetable, with four trains daily, he said. The 9am train is to depart from Chiayi Railway Station bound for Shizilu Station (十字路), while the 10am train departing from Chiayi is to go all the
FLU CONTINUES: Hospitals reported 101,091 visits for flu-like illnesses last week, while 68 severe cases and 16 flu-related deaths were also reported, the CDC said The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported 932 hospitalizations due to COVID-19 and 64 related deaths for last week, adding that the number of people who had contracted new SARS-CoV-2 subvariants KP.2 and LB.1 has increased. The number of people hospitalized due to COVID-19 increased from 815 in the previous week to 932 last week, while 90 percent of the 64 deceased were aged 65 or older, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said. JN.1 was still the dominant variant among local and imported cases in the past four weeks, while KP.2 was the second-most common, Lin said. Cases with the LB.1 subvariant
Beijing’s recent provocative actions against the Philippines in the South China Sea were partly meant as a “dress rehearsal” for the invasion of Taiwan, former US deputy national security advisor Matt Pottinger said at a Heritage Foundation forum in Washington on Tuesday. Beijing’s blocking of a Philippine resupply mission on June 17 with unprecedented violence had multiple implications. “What they’re doing is trying to demonstrate that they can blockade, create a sense of futility and discredit the idea that the United States is going to help not only the Philippines, but by extension Taiwan,” Pottinger said. Pottinger was referring to a clash