Taipei, Aug. 13 (CNA) President Chen Shui-bian met Monday with visiting U.S. Representative Rob Simmons, a Republican from Connecticut.
Chen expressed thanks to Simmons for greeting him in New York on May 21 when he stopped there on his way to El Salvador.
Noting that Simmons had been posted in Taiwan for three years and that his eldest daughter was born here, Chen said Simmons is one of the few U.S. congressmen who has special ties with and affection for the island.
Chen exchanged views with Simmons on the island's ties with the United States, and stressed the importance of U.S. arms sales to Taiwan which, he said, improve the island's capability to safeguard the peace across the Taiwan Strait.