TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A joint Taiwan-US trade delegation has wrapped up a six-day trip to the Philippines, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Saturday, but without revealing whether Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) had been part of the group.

The August 25-30 mission was led by Deputy Minister of Agriculture Huang Chao-chin (黃昭欽), Taiwan’s Chinese International Economic Cooperation Association Chair Joseph Lyu (呂桔誠), and US-Taiwan Business Council Executive Vice President Lotta Danielsson, the ministry said in a statement.

During the trip, media reports speculated that Lin had joined the delegation, but the ministry refused to comment. Saturday’s statement said he had coordinated the trip with Taiwan’s representative office in the Philippines and with the Philippines’ office in Taiwan, without commenting on his whereabouts.

The trip of the Taiwan-US delegation had expanded Taiwan’s diplomatic space and solidified the breakthrough of the strategic partnership with the Philippines, the ministry said. Since Lin took office in May 2024, the ministry had managed a special inter-ministerial taskforce to boost cooperation with the Philippines in the fields of semiconductors, smart agriculture, new energy, navigation, and ports.

The delegation was the result of a memorandum of understanding signed in May between the organizations taking part in the trip. The aim was a Taiwan-Philippines Economic Corridor in the spirit of the Taiwan-US Economic Prosperity Partnership Dialogue, the ministry said.

The group’s visit centered on the Luzon Economic Corridor, with members hailing from a wide range of Taiwanese businesses and associations. The economies of the two countries were complementary, with Taiwan’s advantages in technology facing the talent and labor resources of the Philippines.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasized the importance of “non-red” supply chains which did not include China. Taiwan and the Philippines could build a first island chain alliance together based on freedom and democracy, the ministry concluded.