President Tsai receives award for promoting Taiwan-U.S. ties

New York, March 30 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) was presented an award by a conservative think tank in New York on Thursday night in recognition of her efforts to promote the relations between Taiwan and the United States.

"Under [Tsai's] leadership, the U.S. and Taiwan have expanded and deepened their security and economic relationship," Hudson Institute President and CEO John Walters said in a statement after a closed-door event where Tsai received the award and delivered a speech.

The statement also commended the Tsai administration for its efforts to "resist tyranny and maintain a free and open Indo-Pacific."

Tsai joined a list of prominent politicians and businessmen honored with the award, including former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley and media mogul Rupert Murdoch.

In her speech, Tsai said the people of Taiwan would continue building strength for the purpose of maintaining peace and avoiding war, according to a readout provided by the Presidential Office.

The president blamed Beijing for increased tensions in the Taiwan Strait, adding that an unstable Taiwan Strait would pose serious economic and security risks to the entire world, the readout said.

Tsai also urged other democracies to support Taiwan's participation in the U.N. and its affiliated agencies, and she pledged that Taiwan will look to deepen its security cooperation and economic partnership with the U.S. and like-minded countries, the readout said.

Relations between Taiwan and China have become increasingly strained since Tsai of the Democratic Progressive Party took office in 2016, and Beijing has in recent years ramped up its campaign to isolate Taipei from the international organizations.

The Hudson Institute has been very supportive of Taiwan and critical of China, and it has received donations of more than US$100,000 from Taiwan through its representative office in the U.S. from at least 2018 to 2021, according to the Hudson Institute's 2018-2021 annual reports.

The 2022 annual report has yet to be released.

Tsai will leave New York for Guatemala on Friday morning U.S. time, after wrapping up her two-day stop in the city, where she has met with Taiwanese expatriates, the U.N. envoys of Taiwan's diplomatic allies at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in New York.

Tsai embarked on her 10-day trip on March 29 (Taipei time) to Taiwan's Central American allies Guatemala and Belize, and on her return trip, she will make a stopover in Los Angeles, where she is expected to meet with U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.