Strengthening U.S.-Taiwan Relations to Advance Freedom: 2021 Yushan Forum; Keith Krach

Founder and Chairman of the Center for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue (CTDP) and former Under Secretary of State, Keith Krach, addressed this year’s Yushan Forum on the topic of Strengthening U.S. – Taiwan Relations to Advance Freedom.

Highlights of Krach’s address include:

His mission was to strengthen global support for Taiwan. Krach believes that strategy equals sequence–was comprised of six sequential moves. The first was to bolster support for countries that have the courage to still recognize Taiwan. The second was to create a Taiwan win for the United States. The third was to build a foundation of trusted relationships. And then the fourth and the fifth that was to establish a formal economic partnership as broad as possible and then establish a technology partnership as deep as possible. And then the final one was to lay the groundwork for a formal trade relationship.

Selected excerpts:

It’s an honor to be back with my Taiwan friends. You know what I’ve come to know in my 40 year career as a businessman and later as a diplomat that Taiwan is an indispensable partner in advancing freedom, and it demonstrates the power of free markets and democracy as a counterweight to authoritarian states. And I’m here because of my love for the Taiwanese people and the many friendships I’ve made along the way. We have a lot of common bonds, common values. We are built of similar stuff. Tough, honest, hardworking, creative, and independent, and we’re both founded on the belief in freedom and the pride moving forward.