Lai welcomes US Senate delegation

2025/04/22

better respond to climate change, geopolitical tensions and the restructuring of global supply chains.

Lai made the remarks while receiving a delegation led by Senator Pete Ricketts, chair of the Senate’s Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific and International Cybersecurity Policy, April 18 at the Presidential Office in Taipei City. Other prominent members of the group included Sen. Chris Coons and Sen. Ted Budd.

Thanks to advocacy from Ricketts and Coons, the U.S. Congress has continued to back Taiwan with concrete actions through the National Defense Authorization Act and Consolidated Appropriations Act, the president said. Congress has long demonstrated unanimous support for cross-strait security, he added, expressing his gratitude on behalf of all citizens.

Lai took the opportunity to pledge to promote societal resilience, conduct national defense reforms and allocate a special budget to boost the national defense budget by an additional 0.5 percent of the gross domestic product to bring the total to 3 percent of the GDP.

In response, Ricketts said the U.S. is committed to maintaining stability in the Indo-Pacific, objects to any unilateral change in the status quo and advocates peaceful resolution of cross-strait issues. He emphasized that the U.S. government anticipates closer collaboration with Taiwan in areas spanning diplomacy, economy and security.

Faced with China’s escalating threats, Ricketts said the U.S. would continue helping Taiwan develop self-defense capabilities to ensure a more secure world and to benefit the people of both sides. 


Source: Taiwan Today (https://taiwantoday.tw/index.php)