Taipei, Jan. 21 (CNA) Raymond Burghardt, chairman of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) , will arrive in Taipei Sunday for a four-day visit, during which he will meet with President Ma Ying-jeou, the AIT said Friday in a press release.
The AIT did not specify the purpose of Burghardt's trip, but according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he will brief Taiwan officials on the latest developments regarding Chinese President Hu Jintao's state visit to the United States.
U.S. President Barack Obama reaffirmed Thursday in a joint press conference with Hu and later in a U.S.-China joint statement that the U.S. is committed to "a one-China policy based on the three U.S.-China communiques and the Taiwan Relations Act."
According to Jason Yuan, Taiwan's top representative to the U.S., Washington had briefed Taiwan on the state visit prior to Hu's arrival and had agreed that in the future it would brief Taiwan before and immediately after important U.S.-China meetings.
Burghardt's visit to Taiwan Jan. 23-26 will be his 10th since his appointment as AIT chairman in February 2006, said the AIT, the U.S. representative office in Taiwan in the absence of official bilateral diplomatic ties.
Burghardt will also meet with several major figures in politics and business during his stay, the AIT said.
Burghardt was the director of AIT's Taipei office from 1999 to 2001. He is currently the director of East-West Seminars at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawaii, a position he holds concurrently with his AIT post. (By Chris Wang) enditem /pc