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New AIT Neihu office
construction behind schedule
By Fan Cheng-hsiang / Staff Reporter
Diplomatic sources on Monday said the new American Institute in Taiwan (AIT)
office compound in Taipei’s Neihu District (內湖) is almost certain to remain
unfinished by next year’s targeted completion date, as obstacles to construction
were only resolved under Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義).
The AIT has signed a contract with the Taiwanese government to lease more than
65,000m2 of -government-owned land in Neihu for a period of 99 years. The total
lease amounts to NT$339 million dollars (US$11.6 million), a sum paid in full by
the AIT.
A source said that although then-AIT director Stephen Young held the
announcement ceremony in June 2009, it did not mean all the obstacles for
construction had yet been resolved.
Obstacles delaying construction were not limited to the preservation of natural
scenery, but also stem from a request by President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九)
-administration to the US government for information on the office’s structure
and location, including plans for US Marine security guard quarters.
The US Department of State placed an advertisement in the classifieds section of
a local newspaper in 2008, requesting solicitations for building Marine security
guard quarters at the Neihu office, sparking a highly political question on
whether the US would send Marines to guard the compound.
The US declined requests from the Ma administration to provide the construction
plans for security reasons, but later resolved the issue through “diplomatic”
means, one source said.
The source said the US government had shown patience with the Ma administration
over the delays, as this was the first time a foreign governmental organization
based in Taiwan had leased land for construction.
However, how the US perceives and evaluates the Ma administration is another
matter, the source said.
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