At a Cabinet meeting today, Premier Lin Chuan expressed congratulations to the United States for successfully completing its presidential election, and choosing a new leader and congress through democratic means.
Taiwan and the U.S. have long enjoyed friendly relations, Lin said, and in addition to sharing universal values of freedom, democracy and human rights, the two countries collaborate on numerous political, economic, technological, cultural and security issues.
The premier also assured everyone that, following the election, interactions and collaborative exchanges between Taiwan's government agencies and the U.S. will not change. The government will continue to conduct negotiations with the U.S. under the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement, pursue a bilateral investment agreement, and hopefully sign a bilateral free trade agreement.
In addition to working with the U.S. and other Asia-Pacific countries to advance peace, security, prosperity, stability and sustainable development in the region, Taiwan will also continue promoting and participating in regional integration mechanisms, Lin said.
The premier directed government agencies to closely follow U.S. policies after the new president takes office, determine whether those policies will bring changes to Taiwan-U.S. relations, and formulate response strategies if necessary.