The economic “status quo,” which benefits China, is changing, presenting opportunities for closer cooperation between Taiwan and the US, former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo told a business forum in Kaohsiung yesterday.

Pompeo is visiting Taiwan for the second time this year to attend the Global Taiwan Business Forum, organized by the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times).

In a speech before more than 300 business representatives at the Kaohsiung Marriott Hotel, Pompeo discussed shifting relations in Southeast Asia driven by aggressive Chinese conduct.

Ukrainian Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Oleksandr Merezhko called Taiwan a “true friend” in an interview published on Saturday.

During an interview with US online news outlet Axios, Merezhko said that he realized “China is not our friend” after Beijing described its relationship with the Kremlin as a “friendship without limits.”

Taiwan, on the other hand, had placed sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, and had offered Ukraine substantial material support, he said.

US President Joe Biden’s remarks that US troops would help defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion “speak for themselves,” US National Security Council Indo-Pacific Coordinator Kurt Campbell said on Monday, adding that US policy on Taiwan remains consistent and unchanged.

In a prerecorded interview with the CBS show 60 Minutes that aired on Sunday, Biden told host Scott Pelley that the US would defend Taiwan “if in fact there was an unprecedented attack.”