Global Courant
TAIPEI — A senior US official charged with handling ties with the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) bloc visited Taiwan this week for talks about his country’s plans to host the group this year, said the de facto US Embassy in Taipei Friday.
Apec is one of the few international organizations to which China-claimed Taiwan belongs, as Beijing, which considers the island a Chinese province, not a country, blocks its participation in most of the others.
Against the backdrop of military tensions between Beijing and Taipei, previous Apec summits have served as a rare conduit for direct engagement between Taiwan and China, which is also a member.
US official Matt Murray visited Taiwan on Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss with senior officials issues related to Apec and the strong economic relationship between the US and Taiwan, the American Institute in Taiwan said in a brief statement.
Mr. Murray discussed topics such as high-level meetings scheduled for August in Seattle on aspects of disaster preparedness, food security, health and economics, energy, women and economics, and small and medium-sized enterprises, the statement said.
It didn’t say who he had met in Taiwan.
The Summit of Key Leaders will be held in San Francisco in November.
Taiwanese presidents do not attend Apec summits, but the island is represented by senior former officials or corporate executives, such as Mr. Morris Chang, founder of semiconductor maker TSMC, who went to the summit in Bangkok last year.
Mr. Chang had a brief conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the time and also discussed semiconductors with US Vice President Kamala Harris. REUTERS
US official visits Taiwan to discuss US-hosted Apec rallies
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