A staunch friend of Taiwan is to take over this summer as the top US diplomat in Taipei, three sources briefed on the matter said, roughly coinciding with president-elect William Lai (賴清德) taking office.
The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media, said that Raymond Greene, currently deputy chief of mission at the US embassy in Tokyo, is to replace Sandra Oudkirk as director of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT).
The AIT handles relations between the US and Taiwan in the absence of official relations.
Photo: screen grab from the American Institute in Taiwan’s Facebook page
Career diplomat Greene, who was deputy head of the AIT before going to Japan, would be the de facto US ambassador in Taipei.
The AIT referred questions to the US Department of State, which did not respond to a request for comment.
“Greene is viewed here as a staunch friend of Taiwan’s and knows Taiwan well,” one of the sources said.
Photo: CNA
A second source said Greene, who speaks both Japanese and Mandarin, would also be able to serve as a useful conduit between Taiwan and Japan, given Tokyo’s concerns about possible Chinese military action.
Greene would be assuming his new role as Lai takes charge.
It was not clear exactly when Greene would take up his role, but the sources said it would be this summer when Oudkirk’s term is up. She took the role in July 2021.
Greene was previously the US consul general in the southwestern Chinese city of Chengdu and Japan’s Okinawa, home to a US military base that lies not far from Taiwan.
In 2021, shortly before moving from Taipei to Tokyo, Greene said in a speech that when he first worked in Taiwan two decades ago, everything AIT did related back to cross-strait issues and how Taiwan fits into the US-China relationship, but over the preceding three years, efforts had been overwhelmingly focused on deepening ties and working together to help other nations develop their economies and democratic institutions.
“The United States no longer sees Taiwan as a ‘problem’ in our relations with China, we see it as an opportunity to advance our shared vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific, and also as a beacon to peoples around the world who aspire for a more just, safe, prosperous and democratic world,” Greene said.
The US holds its presidential election in November, in what could be another uncertain factor for relations, although the Ministry of Foreign Affairs last week said that it believed US support would remain unchanged no matter who won.
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
The Chinese military has boosted its capability to fight at a high tempo using the element of surprise and new technology, the Ministry of National Defense said in the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) published on Monday last week. The ministry highlighted Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) developments showing significant changes in Beijing’s strategy for war on Taiwan. The PLA has made significant headway in building capabilities for all-weather, multi-domain intelligence, surveillance, operational control and a joint air-sea blockade against Taiwan’s lines of communication, it said. The PLA has also improved its capabilities in direct amphibious assault operations aimed at seizing strategically important beaches,
‘MALIGN PURPOSE’: Governments around the world conduct espionage operations, but China’s is different, as its ultimate goal is annexation, a think tank head said Taiwan is facing a growing existential threat from its own people spying for China, experts said, as the government seeks to toughen measures to stop Beijing’s infiltration efforts and deter Taiwanese turncoats. While Beijing and Taipei have been spying on each other for years, experts said that espionage posed a bigger threat to Taiwan due to the risk of a Chinese attack. Taiwan’s intelligence agency said China used “diverse channels and tactics” to infiltrate the nation’s military, government agencies and pro-China organizations. The main targets were retired and active members of the military, persuaded by money, blackmail or pro-China ideology to steal
RSS