TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — President-elect Lai Ching-te (賴清德) vowed to uphold regional peace and stability during a meeting with the visiting U.S.-Taiwan Business Council (UTBC) delegation on Tuesday (Jan. 23).

Taiwan is now “the world’s Taiwan,” Lai said, per a Presidential Office press release. As such, he promised to lead the new government and continue safeguarding democracy, maintaining the Taiwan Strait status quo, and defending stability in the Indo-Pacific region.

China’s authoritarian expansion has prompted global leaders to issue joint statements emphasizing the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, he said.

Lai said that in the future, he would work to enhance mutual investments with like-minded democratic countries, including the U.S. to create a stable, secure, and predictable economic and trade investment environment for businesses. With the support of the U.S.-Taiwan Business Council, Lai said he hoped to further strengthen the resilience of critical industry supply chains between Taiwan and the U.S.

The president-elect also said he hoped the U.S.-Taiwan Initiative on 21st Century Trade, U.S.-Taiwan Economic Prosperity Partnership Dialogue, and Technology Trade and Investment Collaboration Framework could become the basis on which Taiwan could join the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF).

Lai said that as an important and trustworthy economic and security partner of the U.S. in the Indo-Pacific, Taiwan can partner with the U.S. to achieve regional economic prosperity. He called on the UTBC delegation to help convey the importance of Taiwan's participation in the IPEF to the U.S. government.