New envoy unaware of U.S. arms sale freeze

In addition to winning U.S. support for Taiwan’s participation in international organizations as another top priority, he also said that “there will be no surprises regarding bilateral interactions.”

That includes President Ma Ying-jeou’s first overseas trip in mid-August, when he will visit Paraguay and the Dominican Republic to attend the inaugurations of the allies’ presidents-elect.

There will be no surprises, such as impromptu press conferences, during planned stopovers in the U.S. on his way to and from Latin America, said Yuan, while blaming the friction in bilateral ties that had arisen in recent years on a lack of mutual trust.

“Taiwan and the U.S. have been close friends ever since World War II,” he said. “Given the fact that the foundation of U.S.-Taiwan relations is very solid, I believe many tasks can be accomplished in a short time with increasing interaction and communication.”

“With the rebuilding of mutual trust, more communication channels will be opened,” he continued.

Before retiring from Taiwan’s foreign service in January 2004, Yuan served as the country’s representative to Canada, ambassador to Panama, director-general of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Los Angeles and chief of the Congressional Liaison Division at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States.

He was the representative to the U.S. for both the then-opposition Kuomintang and People First Party between 2004 and 2008. He will be Taiwan’s 11th representative to Washington since the U.S. switched recognition to the People’s Republic of China in 1979.

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