Taiwan is dedicated to freedom and democracy, Kaohsiung City Councilor Lin Chih-hung (林智鴻) said during a visit to the Pentagon.
As a participant in the U.S. Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP), he addressed fellow program members from 20 countries. Lin emphasized Taiwan’s commitment to maintaining a balance in the Indo-Pacific region and its opposition to pressure from communist authoritarian countries, per CNA.
“Taiwan will stand together with countries in the world that uphold freedom and democracy, including the United States and Japan, to work together to maintain peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region,” he said.
The city councilor said government transparency and accountability were key topics of discussion during the IVLP program. He gained firsthand experience of the U.S. government’s commitment to freedom and its capability to stabilize the world during visits to the Pentagon and the U.S. House of Representatives, Lin said.
He said the U.S. has established systems aimed at making government more transparent and open, including independent agencies like the House Ethics Committee and the Justice Department, as well as mechanisms for protecting whistleblowers.
Lin was invited by the U.S. State Department to attend the nearly one-month IVLP, which focused on topics such as transparency and accountability in open government. He met and exchanged ideas with other training leaders from countries including South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Bulgaria, Thailand, Lebanon, Estonia, Egypt, Tunisia, Croatia, Sri Lanka, and Nepal.
Source: Taiwan News
