Vice President Lai Ching-te (???) spoke with a senator by phone and met with some U.S. experts virtually in San Francisco on Saturday as he wrapped up his trip to the United States and Honduras.

Lai and his delegation left San Francisco to head back to Taiwan on Saturday afternoon after a trip that took them to Los Angeles for about 24 hours and to Honduras for nearly two days to attend the inauguration of President Xiomara Castro.

In his talk with U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth that lasted about 20 minutes, Lai thanked her for her support of Taiwan and help in obtaining COVID-19 vaccines, according to Hsiao Bi-khim (???), Taiwan’s representative to the United States.

The two also discussed potential areas of cooperation in the future, while Duckworth said the U.S. will not let Taiwan stand alone and expressed an interest in visiting Taiwan again, Hsiao said.

Duckworth has been a supporter of Taiwan in the Senate. She briefly visited Taiwan in June 2021 and announced the U.S. would provide COVID-19 vaccines to Taiwan at a time when it was having trouble getting delivery of vaccines it had ordered.

Earlier Saturday, Lai also held virtual talks with several U.S. experts and former officials on a range of issues.

He spoke with Yvonne Maldonado, an American professor of pediatrics and health research and policy at Stanford University, and Jason Wang (???), a public health expert of Taiwanese descent at Stanford University, about the spread of the COVID-19 Omicron variant and pandemic prevention, according to Hsiao.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel