Founder and Former President of American think tank the Heritage Foundation Edwin J. Feulner led a delegation to Taiwan last week, meeting President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) and other officials at the Presidential Office. In a post on his Facebook page, Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) reflected on the meeting and explained the importance of deepening exchanges with think tanks as a way of promoting track two diplomacy.
During his meeting with Feulner, Lin said that they discussed China’s recent gray-zone incursions in the Taiwan Strait. Feulner suggested the use of low-orbit satellite technology to reduce the impact of submarine cables being severed. He also expressed his agreement with Lin’s view that Taiwan-U.S. and U.S.-China relations should be decoupled such that Taiwan-U.S. relations are not framed under U.S.-China relations.
Lin said that the founding of TaiwanThinktank (TTT) was partly influenced by and modeled on the Heritage Foundation. He asserted his belief that Taiwan-U.S. ties can be enhanced through think tank diplomacy, as think tanks often serve as a government’s talent pool and provide practical policy advice to decision makers.