TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Former US National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien confirmed Thursday that he passed on a letter from President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) congratulating Trump on his election win. 

While speaking at a seminar held by the Washington, D.C.-based think tank Global Taiwan Institute, O'Brien said Taiwan’s representative to the US Alexander Tah-ray Yui (俞大㵢) traveled to Utah to meet him and requested he deliver a congratulatory letter from Lai to Trump. 

“We didn't have a phone call this year like we did in the past, but the ambassador flew out to Salt Lake City where I was for the weekend in Park City, and delivered a letter and CNN picked that up and had that story,” said O'Brien.

O'Brien said it was a great start to the new administration to have Taiwan congratulate Trump. He said the letter was delivered to Mar-a-Lago and that Trump was “very pleased” to receive it. He said this was one of the first congratulatory messages after Trump won the election. 

O'Brien revealed that during his recent stopover in Hawaii, Lai “made calls to a number of officials.” O'Brien said he also spoke with Lai about the GTI task force's recent work and said Lai appreciated what it was doing for Taiwan. 

O’Brien said the letter and Lai's communications with US government officials during his recent stopover in Hawaii demonstrates, “Taiwan is making itself heard and making itself known to the new president. I think he appreciates that."

He also analyzed Trump’s second-term personnel arrangements and their implications for Taiwan policy, predicting robust pro-Taiwan support at the senior administrative level. O’Brien said Senator Marco Rubio, the nominee for secretary of state, “has been very good on Taiwan.”

O’Brien added Mike Waltz, the incoming White House national security advisor, is a “great friend of Taiwan,” and Alex Wong, the incoming deputy national security advisor, has “family relations in Taiwan.” He also mentioned that Jamieson Greer, Trump’s pick for US trade representative, is a GTI task force member and a “key part” of its delegation to Taiwan. 

O'Brien said he would not be a member of the new Trump administration but said, “I'll still be a big advocate for Taiwan from the outside.”