TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – American Institute in Taiwan Director Raymond Greene met with Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) and Vice Speaker Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) Wednesday.

In a Facebook post, AIT said the meetings marked the New Year. The US envoy discussed efforts to enhance cooperation on issues of security, economic development, and people-to-people exchanges.

The same day, Greene reportedly also met with Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) for talks about the strengthening of the bilateral relationship, per CNA. New diplomatic and economic initiatives involving the US, Taiwan, and their global partners were also discussed, AIT said.

The US has asked for more defense efforts from Taiwan, but the opposition on Friday prevented a special eight-year NT$1.25 trillion (US$40 billion) defense budget from moving forward at the Legislative Yuan.