RECIPROCAL TRUST: This is the first time that the names Taiwan and the US appear alongside each other in the title of an agency, signaling improved ties, Tsai Ing-wen said
Taipei Times
Date: May 26, 2019
By: Lin Chia-nan / Staff reporter
he Coordination Council for North American Affairs has been renamed the Taiwan Council
Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu’s Twitter message is pictured in a screen grab yesterday.
Screen grab from Twitter
for US Affairs, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday, hailing the move as a breakthrough in Taiwan-US relations.
The names of Taiwan and the US appear alongside each other in an agency’s title for the first time, symbolizing the affinity and reciprocal trust between the two nations, Tsai wrote on Facebook.
Based on the US’ Taiwan Relations Act, Washington in 1979 established the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) to deal with affairs related to Taiwan, and Taiwan established the coordination council as a reciprocal agency, she wrote.
Taiwan used the phrase “North American” instead of the US due to special historical conditions at the time, showing the difficult situation Taiwan faced in international relations, she said. [FULL STORY]
