Radio Taiwan International
Date: 03 December, 2019
By: Paula Chao

The foreign ministry says ties between Taiwan and the United States are close and friendly. That’s the word from Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Joanne Ou on Tuesday.

Ou’s comments came a day after a US official said he would not call Taiwan a country. David Stilwell, the Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, made the statement at a seminar organized by the Brookings Institution in Washington on Monday.

Stilwell said the United States will honor the Taiwan Relations Act.  The US Congress passed the Taiwan Relations Act on January 1, 1979 to create a legal basis for Washington’s relations with Taipei. The legislation has been the cornerstone of the bilateral ties since it went into effect on April 10, 1979.    [FULL  STORY]