AUGUST 3, 2022
Taipei, Taiwan – Speaker Nancy joined President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan for a press event following a bilateral meeting. Below are the Speaker’s remarks:
Thank you very much. Thank you Madam President, for your leadership and for the leadership gathered here with you today.
I’m proud of my delegation. We’re almost like one unit. The Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, the Chairman of the – Mr. Meeks; Mr. Takano, Chair of Veterans’ Affairs; Vice Chair of Ways and Means – the trade committee – Congresswoman Suzan DelBene; a Member of the Intelligence Committee, Mr. Krishnamoorthi; and a Member of the Foreign Affairs and Armed Services Committee, Mr. Kim. I say that because when I speak, I – my receiving your kind words, as well as this invitation, is really received and appreciated by Members of Congress. On both sides of the aisle, on both sides of the Capitol: great enthusiasm for the U.S.-Taiwan relationship.
Let’s just put it in perspective. Four decades ago, the Taiwan Relations Act was built – in building a strong bond between our two countries: advancing our shared interests of governance, economy and security, while respecting the ‘One China’ policy. Our solidarity with you is more important than ever, as you defend Taiwan and their freedom.
In our bilateral meeting, we discussed key opportunities to deepen our partnership: upholding democracy and human rights and respect the individual, combating – well, I’ll get around to combat.
Three areas that I just mentioned – security, economy, governance. Security: our relationship is a strong one. And we discussed how we can make it stronger and up to date. Our economy: we talked about a trade agreement that might be possible and soon. And in governance: that, among other things, and in governance, I want to salute Taiwan for the leadership you have had in fighting COVID. Probably one of the highest rates of vaccination, but also the lowest number of deaths from COVID. A real model for the world. It’s about science, but it’s also about community acceptance of a plan. And that is called leadership. So thank you for that lesson to all of us.
And the – as we deal with those three areas, we come here following the President’s lead on the Indo-Pacific economic framework. That’s interesting; we support that. Again, in terms of security, economy and governance, towards that part of that – so we want to build a different set, with the economic package, with their security package, and the trade agreement. Hopefully, that is imminent.
So this is a very important time for us, because we are here to listen and to learn about how we can do this more effectively, really achieving the goals for Taiwan that we all aspire to, but don’t understand as fully as we do now because of this trip.
So again, I think it’s a great pride for us today: the first woman Speaker in the House, meeting the first woman President of Taiwan. We have some enthusiasm for that. And again, we’re very proud of our Representatives. And my colleague Suzan DelBene – so they took a moment to take some pride in women’s leadership.
Again, our delegation came here to send an unequivocal message: America stands with Taiwan. Thank you, Madam President.