On September 17, HQ held the FAPA 40th Anniversary Banquet to celebrate our achievements over the past four decades. Our friends from Congress Rep. Steve Chabot and Rep. Brad Sherman along with Taiwan’s Ambassador Hsiao, Bi-khim, and Legislator Wang, Ting-yu all joined this festive occasion. Senator Bob Menendez, who co-sponsors the Taiwan Policy Act, and Rep. Amata Coleman Radewagen congratulated FAPA’s 40th birthday through pre-recorded videos demonstrating their long-time friendship with FAPA, most importantly, their support for Taiwan. Taiwan’s Vice President Wiliam Lai also expresses support for FAPA and acknowledges FAPA’s achievements on behalf of President Tsai, Ing-wen in a video.

The Banquet started with Rep. Brad Sherman’s opening speech. Rep. Brad Sherman reiterated that working toward free, democratic, and sovereign Taiwan is important for the entire world followed by recognizing FAPA’s successful accomplishment of this goal again and again. Echoing Rep. Sherman’s message, Ambassador Hsiao said in her speech that, 30 years ago, she used to protest the autocratic government outside Taipei Economic Cultural Representative Office (TECRO) during her internship at FAPA. “I grow with FAPA”, she said. Rep. Steve Chabot was awarded the FAPA Legend Award in appreciation of his decades-long support for Taiwan.