Taiwan on Thursday welcomed US President Barack Obama's repeating the US defence commitment to Taiwan, made at his joint press conference with visiting Chinese President Hu Jintao.
"We appreciate President Obama's reiterating the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) at his joint press conference with Chinese leader Hu Jintao. This reflects US commitment to Taiwan's security," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement, dpa reported.
Obama made the remarks on Wednesday local time.
The ministry said that under the TRA, which was signed in 1979 when the US switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing, "the US should decide to provide the quality and quantity of defensive arms to Taiwan, based solely upon its evaluation of Taiwan's defence needs."
"We believe that the triangle Taiwan-US-China ties are not zero-win ties. We hope the US will continue to honour its commitments to Taiwan, which will give us more confidence in seeking improvement of cross-Strait ties," it said.