Fri, Apr 05, 2024 page3

• ‘Staunch friend’ to head AIT: sources

  COMMUNICATION: A source said that Raymond Greene, who speaks both Japanese and Mandarin, would be able to serve as a useful conduit between Taiwan and Japan

  • By Ben Blanchard / Reuters, TAIPEI
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  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.

  

  American Institute in Taiwan Director Sandra Oudkirk, right, poses for a photograph with Vice President William Lai in Taipei in an undated photograph.

  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.

  

  Then American Institute in Taiwan Deputy Director Raymond Greene speaks at the opening ceremony of the Cyber Offensive and Defensive Exercise in Taipei on Nov. 14, 2019.

  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.
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