Premier Su Tseng-chang praised President Tsai Ing-wen on Thursday for her many accomplishments during her recent Journey of Freedom, Democracy and Sustainability, especially given the well-known difficult state of Taiwan's foreign affairs. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported at the Cabinet's weekly meeting that President Tsai led a delegation of government ministers, national legislators, and business leaders on a four-country tour of Taiwan's Caribbean diplomatic allies, and included a pair of transit stops in the U.S. The successful trip served as a full-throated endorsement of the world's shared values of freedom, openness and sustainability, as well as demonstrated the resolute will to defend democracy against all outside threats.
The president's trip played an important role, said Premier Su, in engendering deeper and closer ties and cooperative relations with Taiwan's four regional allies in such areas as medicine, agriculture, education, financial administration, transportation and public security. The trip also included a number of firsts for a president of Taiwan traveling in the U.S., including a public reception at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in New York, where she met with 17 permanent representatives of Taiwan's allies to the United Nations. Also a first for a Taiwan president transiting the U.S. was hosting a reception for the press corps traveling with the delegation, all in the company of American Institute in Taiwan Chairman James Moriarty, who provided assistance throughout the stops in both Denver and New York.
While these firsts certainly represent important diplomatic breakthroughs, the premier emphasized that with the adoption into U.S. law of the Taiwan Travel Act and the National Defense Authorization Act, as well as the U.S. House's passage of the Taiwan Assurance Act, the future for Taiwan-U.S. relations looks brighter still.