Retired lieutenant general named Taiwan's deputy representative to Philippines

Taipei, Aug. 1 (CNA) Retired Lieutenant General Li Ting-sheng (李廷盛) has been appointed as Taiwan's deputy representative to the Philippines, according to a decree issued by the Presidential Office on Wednesday.

In response, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) told CNA that Li "often expressed his views on regional security and military strategic issues."

"With his abundant experience, Taiwan-Philippines security cooperation and exchanges are expected to be comprehensively improved," the ministry added.

Li previously served a number of security-related roles, including as acting chief executive officer of the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, deputy commander of Taiwan's Air Force and director of the military coordination division at Taiwan's representative office in the Philippines, MOFA said.

Li also gave an address at the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) summit in Prague, Czech Republic, in 2023 on the topic of "possible Taiwan scenarios," according to an IPAC press release.

The announcement of his assignment to the Philippines came just one day after the fourth Philippines-United States 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue held in Manila on Tuesday.

At the dialogue, the foreign secretaries and defense secretaries for the U.S. and the Philippines "reiterated the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait as an indispensable element of global security and prosperity," according to a joint statement published by the U.S. Department of State.

On Wednesday, MOFA issued a statement expressing thanks to the Philippines government for "publicly expressing their concerns about the situation in the Taiwan Strait on many occasions."

MOFA said that it "welcomed the international community to continue to share our concern for peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, support the values of democracy, freedom and the rule of law, safeguard the rules-based international order and firmly defend the free and open Indo-Pacific region."