American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Sandra Oudkirk will be leaving the position this summer. Along with three other colleagues and Director Neil Gibson of the AIT Kaohsiung Branch Office, she paid a goodbye visit to Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che today (June 11). Tainan City Government Department of Information and International Relations Director-General Su En-en was also present. As a token of appreciation for Director Oudkirk’s services to Taiwan-US relations during her term, Mayor Huang Wei-che presented her with a preserved floral artwork created with moth orchids, Tainan’s city flower. Mayor Huang explained that the artwork symbolizes the relationship between Taiwan and the United States has blossomed like the orchids and looks forward to more interactions between the two countries in the future.
While the Mayor was happy to meet old friends today, he also felt sad about Director Oudkirk’s upcoming departure. Huang expressed that although regional politics and world events had significantly changed over the previous three years of the Director’s tenure, ties between Taiwan and the US remained solid. He expressed gratitude to AIT for supporting Tainan and Taiwan and believes that this relationship will become even stronger as Tainan’s former Mayor Lai Ching-de steps up as the new president. Joking that the sweet local fruits must be the Director’s best memory of Tainan, Mayor Huang hopes that she will not forget her friendship with Tainan and wishes Director Oudkirk all the best for the future.
Director Oudkirk thanked Mayor Huang for his continued support of AIT and talked about the interactions between the US and Taiwan over the past three years. Both sides look forward to facilitating more collaborations in various areas and deepening the friendship between the citizens of Taiwan and the US.
Sandra Oudkirk became the American Institute in Taiwan’s first female director when she assumed office in 2021. Fluent in Chinese and Turkish, she has extensive diplomatic experience and has served consular assignments in Turkey and China as well as a US senior official for APEC. During this visit, Director Oudkirk also visited National Cheng Kung University to deliver her final speech as the Director of AIT, which was titled “People to People Ties: The Bedrock of the U.S.-Taiwan Partnership”.