Jonathan Sun is the new Director-General of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in Boston. He arrived in Boston on July 28 after spending the past four years in Taiwan. Prior to that, Sun had spent six years in New York and another six in Washington D.C. As the new Director-General of TECO Boston, Sun hopes to continue the work of his predecessors to strengthen the ties between Taiwan and New England.
“I believe my predecessors have done whatever they can to expand the relationship between Taiwan and New England,” Sun told Sampan in an interview at his office. “What I can do is to help build upon the solid foundation they have built and continue to strengthen the friendship.”
Sun began his career in 1998 working for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Taiwan. During his first three years, he worked in the Department of North American Affairs. Then, he was sent to New York for six years where he served as the assistant to the Director-General of TECO in New York. During his time there he worked on the campaign for Taiwan’s participation in the United Nations in New York. Returning to Taiwan, he worked in the Department of International Organizations as the UN Section Chief, focusing on international participation and outreach.
After three-and-a-half years, he was sent to Washington D.C. He worked in the Political Division for a total of six years. “I worked with a lot of think tanks and federal government officials and talked about different issues,” Sun said. “We have many people working in critical divisions covering different aspects of the issues. I was covering the international participation as well as the defense and security issues.”
Returning to Taipei again after his time in D.C., Sun worked in three different departments where he spent a total of four years until he left for Boston.
“The United States is Taiwan’s most important foreign relation,” Sun said. “We also have good relations with many other countries and more than 100 missions and offices abroad.”
Sun explained that the important thing is finding “likeminded partners,” a term from the West that has been emphasized in recent speeches and interviews by President of Taiwan, Tsai Ing-Wen herself.
“As a democratic country, Taiwan faces aggressive pressures from the neighboring authoritarian regime of China,” said Sun. “Through like-minded democracy conferences, we hope to create more support for Taiwan. I think the most important thing is we need more friends and allies to face the pressures from China. We need to find ways to garner more support, not only moral, but more concrete support to assist Taiwan.
For this reason, he said, TECO’s goal is to find ways to let more people learn about and appreciate Taiwan.
“Though small, Taiwan is a force to be reckoned with,” said Sun. “Taiwan is a force of good. We greatly appreciate all the longtime support for our embassy and our government. We’re here. The door is open. We welcome anyone who wishes to understand Taiwan, or has any comments or concerns to contact us. We wish to hear your voices. If we can answer you, we will. If we cannot, we are willing to discuss it with Taipei. We wish to develop good relations and hope that all those who support Taiwan continue to do so in the future.”
