Matthews is first State Department official to visit since Tsai-Trump call
Taiwan News
Date: 2016/12/10
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer
TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Just a week after President Tsai Ing-wen made a controversial phone call to
(By Central News Agency)
United States President-elect Donald Trump, Washington is sending Deputy Assistant Secretary of State and senior official for Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, Matthew Matthews, to the island.
The Tsai-Trump call, the highest-level conversation between leaders from both countries since they ruptured diplomatic ties in 1979, has angered China but also given some hope about contacts between Taipei and the new administration in Washington.
The next U.S. president has however repeatedly talked tough on foreign trade, saying he would abandon the Trans-Pacific Partnership and penalize companies which took jobs overseas.
In a statement, the American Institute in Taiwan, which represents the U.S. in the absence of formal ties, said that “Ambassador Matthews will meet with Taiwan officials and economic policy and business leaders to exchange views on this year’s APEC outcomes and other trade and economic matters of mutual concern.” [FULL STYORY]