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Hsiao Bi-khim, well-connected in Washington, resigned from the
job as U.S. envoy this month to be the running mate for current
Vice President Lai Ching-te in Taiwan's Jan. 13 presidential
election. President Tsai Ing-wen cannot run again after two
terms in office.
The presidential office said it had appointed Alexander Yui,
Taiwan's representative to the European Union, to replace Hsiao.
The United States is Taiwan's most important international
backer and arms supplier even though Washington does not
formally recognize its government, maintaining official
relations only with Beijing which claims the island as its own
territory.
Tsai "hopes to use Ambassador Yui's rich cross-regional
diplomatic experience to help promote the continuous deepening
of Taiwan-U.S. relations on the existing solid foundation", the
presidential office said.
The government only approved the EU appointment of the
trilingual Yui, who also speaks fluent Spanish, in June.
Yui is a former deputy foreign minister and previously ran
Taiwan's office in Geneva.
The statement used the title "ambassador" though it is not
formally used, given neither the United States nor EU have
official relations with Taiwan.
Yui's spot in Brussels will be filled by deputy foreign minister
Roy Lee, the presidential office said, a rising diplomatic star
in Taiwan's foreign service who received his doctorate from the
Australian National University in Canberra.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and
Bernadette Baum)
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