Tsai Ing-wen

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen on Thursday online met with Kelly Craft, the United States’ ambassador to the United Nations, showing strong collaborative partnership.

The videoconference was conducted one day after the cancellation of Craft’s visit to Taiwan, originally set for Wednesday to Friday this week.

The U.S. State Department on Wednesday canceled all senior-level overseas travel originally set before the transition to President-elect Joe Biden, also affecting Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s planned trip to Belgium.

In Taipei, Presidential Office spokesperson Xavier Chang said in a statement that in the videoconference, both sides discussed issues including Taiwan’s participation in international bodies, strengthening Taiwan-U.S. cooperative partnership, sharing core values of democracy, educational exchanges, among other issues.

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“I made clear to President Tsai that the U.S. stands with Taiwan and always will, as friends and partners, standing shoulder to shoulder as pillars of democracy.

“We discussed the many ways Taiwan is a model for the world, as demonstrated by its success in fighting COVID-19 and all that Taiwan has to offer in the fields of health, technology & cutting-edge science,” she tweeted after the meeting.

“Unfortunately, Taiwan is unable to share those successes in @UN venues, including the World Health Assembly, as a result of PRC obstruction.

“If the pandemic has taught us anything, it is that more information, more transparency, is part of the answer,” the U.S. envoy added.

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David Feith, Deputy U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs was also at the online conference, according to Chang.

Craft’s planned trip to Taiwan has been sharply criticised by Beijing. Taiwan has had an independent government since 1949, but China considers the island part of its territory.

DPA/NAN