A job well done—a just reward!

It has been announced in Taiwan that His Excellency Ambassador Tom Chou has been appointed to the extremely prestigious position of Director General of the Coordination Council For North American Affairs in Taipei. This new posting is an appropriate recognition of the Ambassador’s many years of devoted dedication to the service of his country and the countries in which he has served. Although the USA is Taiwan’s strongest and most important ally, Taiwan and the United States do not enjoy diplomatic relations with each other. Taiwan does not have an embassy in Washington. The Coordination Council for North American Affairs (CCNAA), which is responsible for handling and coordinating bilateral matters between the Republic of China and the United States of America, was set up in 1979. The U.S. set up a corresponding office, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) in the same year to deal with bilateral relations and other matters between the two countries. In the United States, Taiwan maintains one representative office in Washington D.C., and twelve branch offices in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Guam, Honolulu, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Francisco, and Seattle respectively. The AIT has one Representative office in Taipei, and one branch office in Kaohsiung. Ambassador Chou and his wife Tina, who recently moved into their new Taipei apartment, expressed great pleasure at the new posting, which, in addition to being extremely prestigious, is rewarded by one of the highest salaries in the Foreign Service.