Taiwan to strengthen military cooperation with U. S
2023.02.21 01:28
Taiwan to strengthen military cooperation with U. S
By Tiffany Smith
Budrigannews.com – President Tsai Ing-wen told visiting U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday that Taiwan is strengthening its military ties with the United States and will work even more closely with it and other friendly nations to combat “authoritarian expansionism.”
Although the United States, like the majority of nations, does not have any formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, which is claimed by China, it is the island’s most important international backer and arms supplier, which is a constant source of conflict between China and the United States.
Despite the fact that the United States no longer has military bases in Taiwan, the two countries have a strong military relationship that has grown closer as China intensifies its efforts to pressure Taiwan into accepting Chinese sovereignty.
Tsai addressed lawmakers at her Taipei office and stated, “Taiwan and the United States continue to strengthen military exchanges, and going forward Taiwan will cooperate even more actively with the United States and other democratic partners to confront such global challenges as authoritarian expansionism and climate change.”
According to two earlier sources familiar with the situation, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for China Michael Chase’s recent visit to Taiwan exemplifies these close military ties with the United States. Whether he was still in Taiwan was unknown.
Ro Khanna, who is in charge of the bipartisan U.S. delegation and is a member of the House China Select Committee, informed Tsai that the group was there to improve economic and security ties.
“The purpose of our visit is to improve the economic relationship.” He said, “Representing Silicon Valley, I especially appreciated the meeting with Dr. Morris Chang,” referring to the founder of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd., the largest contract chip manufacturer in the world.
Khanna went on to say, “How we can continue to build the economic partnership on technology as well as the partnership on military and defense.”
In response to Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei as US House Speaker at the time, China organized military drills near Taiwan in August.
The democratically elected government of Taiwan says that only the Taiwanese people can decide their future and denies China’s claims to sovereignty.
