The chairman of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) will arrive in Taiwan on Sunday for a routine trip. AIT is the de facto US embassy in Taiwan in the absence of official ties between the two countries.
AIT Chairman Raymond Burghardt will meet with a number of senior political and business figures during his six-day visit. It will be his 17th trip to Taiwan since his appointment as AIT chairman in February, 2006.
Last week AIT announced that a high-ranking State Department official, Kin Moy, will take over as director of its Taipei office this summer.
Moy is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, having served in the State Department for over 20 years. In his current role as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, he is responsible for relations with Taiwan, China and Mongolia.
Moy will be the first person of Chinese descent to take up the position of AIT director.