Lai calls for more trade, tech collaborations with U.S.

Taipei, April 18 (CNA) Taiwan looks forward to enhancing collaborations with the United States in areas such as trade and technology, President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) said on Friday during a meeting with a visiting U.S. Congressional delegation.

Lai told the group led by U.S. Senator Pete Ricketts (R-NE) that such collaborations allow both sides to leverage their strengths and jointly promote prosperity and development.

Speaking at the Presidential Office in Taipei, the president called for a "secure and sustainable economic and trade partnership" between the two sides and joint efforts to build "non-red supply chains" -- manufacturing networks that operate independently of Chinese involvement -- to meet geopolitical and climate change challenges.

The American delegation, which is on a visit to Taiwan from Wednesday to Saturday, focused on security issues across the Taiwan Strait amid growing Chinese military intimidation, including a large-scale joint navy and air force exercise around Taiwan's main island on April 1.

"In the face of rising aggression from Communist China, we will help Taiwan with its self-defense ... We will continue to provide the services and tools that you need to be able to provide for your self-defense," Ricketts said.

Ricketts is the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's Subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific, and International Cybersecurity Policy.

Senators Chris Coons (D-DE) and Ted Budd (R-NC) joined him in the meeting.

The U.S. is "committed to peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific," Ricketts said.

"We want to see peace across the Taiwan Strait; we oppose any unilateral change in the status of Taiwan," he added.

Coons, meanwhile, said the U.S. would be "present, will be engaged ... in ensuring that any dispute, any challenges across the Strait will be resolved peacefully and that Taiwan will have the resources it needs for its self-defense."