A cross-party delegation led by Deputy Legislative Speaker Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) arrived in Dallas, Texas, on Saturday, where they met with city officials and visited a newly opened Taiwan trade office.
The 14-member group, which consisted of lawmakers from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), the ruling Democratic Progressive Party and the smaller opposition Taiwan People’s Party, arrived in Dallas after concluding a three-day trip to Taiwan’s South American ally, Paraguay, the Legislative Yuan said yesterday.
Accompanied by Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Houston Director Yvonne Hsiao (蕭伊芳), Chiang hosted a banquet attended by Texas Senator Brent Hagenbuch, Taiwan-born state representative Angie Chen Button, Plano Mayor John Muns and Richardson Mayor Amir Omar, the statement said.
Photo courtesy of the Legislative Yuan via CNA
Chiang during a speech at the banquet said the visit to Texas was his third trip to the US state in a little more than one year.
He lauded the opening of the Texas Taiwan Office in July last year and the launch of direct flights from Taiwan to Dallas last month as concrete efforts to boost bilateral exchanges.
The delegation on Saturday also visited the newly opened Taiwan Trade and Investment Service Center in Dallas, the statement said.
The office was inaugurated on Aug. 14 to deepen bilateral trade and economic ties, and expand supply chain cooperation, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a statement issued at the time.
Texas is the second-largest economy in the US, with a strong presence in sectors such as artificial intelligence servers, aviation, biomedicine, electric vehicles, energy and semiconductors, which are highly complementary to Taiwan’s industrial development, the ministry said.
Chiang and the delegation departed Taiwan on Nov. 16. Their trip began in Detroit, where they attended a Taiwanese Chambers of Commerce of North America event to better understand the needs of overseas Taiwanese businesses before they arrived in Paraguay on Tuesday last week.