Jaushieh Joseph Wu
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Republic of China (Taiwan)
March 26, 2021
(As Prepared for Delivery)
Good evening!
I am delighted to be here to publicly announce the AIT-TECRO MOU to establish the Coast Guard Working Group, which was signed on March 25, Eastern Standard Time, in Washington, DC.
The MOU, which is the first official document signed by Taiwan and the US since the Biden administration took office, is an important milestone that shows Taiwan and the US are committed to continuing to institutionalize mutual exchanges and interactions, and are moving toward becoming comprehensive cooperation partners. Through this MOU, Taiwan's Coast Guard Administration and the US Coast Guard will establish even closer ties to jointly preserve security and the sustainable development of marine resources in the Indo-Pacific region.
Since President Biden's administration took office on January 20 of this year, we have seen that relations between Taiwan and the US have not only continued uninterrupted, but, as the US has described, are rock solid and will further grow in stability through multilevel and multifaceted dialogue and cooperation.
On March 3, the White House announced the Interim National Security Strategic Guidance, which includes a clear statement on US support for Taiwan, describing Taiwan as a “leading democracy and a critical economic and security partner.” Taiwan and the US will continue to strengthen cooperation on democratic values, the economy, security, and other fields.
In terms of democratic values, Taiwan stands on the frontline of defending democracy, not only by upholding its democratic system and free and open way of life, but also by working together with the US and other like-minded countries to safeguard democracy and protect human rights. Taiwan and the US will continue to work through the Indo-Pacific Democratic Governance Consultations, the Global Cooperation and Training Framework (GCTF), and other mechanisms to jointly promote democracy, human rights, and good governance in the region.
In terms of the economy, following the Taiwan-US Economic Prosperity Partnership Dialogue on November 20 last year, the two sides went on to hold a roundtable discussion on the prospect of cooperation on semiconductor supply chains last month to discuss how to deepen supply chain cooperation, which appropriately corresponded to President Biden's executive order on America's supply chains.
On December 2, the two sides launched the US-Taiwan Education Initiative. By coincidence, this morning (March 26), the two sides held a second working meeting for an in-depth discussion on how to strengthen cooperation on Chinese language teaching and promote Taiwan's 2030 Bilingual Nation policy.
Taiwan is surrounded by the ocean. The ocean connects Taiwan to the whole world and holds unlimited possibilities. Taiwan and the US are both Pacific nations and are both concerned with ocean issues. As highlighted in the Joint Statement on Partners in Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR), issued on March 11 by Taiwan and the US, now that humanity is facing many nontraditional security challenges, close multinational cooperation is needed. Through signing this MOU, Taiwan and the US will open up broad cooperation on marine conservation, combating crime at sea, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, and other areas. In the future, we also hope to conduct exchanges and talks on ocean affairs with other countries in the region, to jointly ensure prosperity, peace, and stability in the Indo-Pacific region.
As a leading democracy in the Indo-Pacific region, Taiwan has always proactively played a responsible and constructive role within the international community. We hope to spread the Taiwanese concepts of positivity, warmth, and the genuine desire to help, and also build stronger ties with the US, so as to together defend our commonly cherished values of democracy, freedom, human rights, and the rules-based international order.
Allow me to once again thank everyone for attending today's ceremony.