New York City was deeply affected by Hurricane Sandy with thousands still suffering from the devastating effects of the storm. Given Taiwan’s close relationship with the city, the government of the Republic of China (Taiwan) decided to donate $100,000 towards the relief efforts. On November 16th , Ambassador Kao of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in New York (TECO-NY) presented a check to City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Comptroller John Liu at City Hall. The ceremony was also attended and well received by many members of City Council, including Councilman Peter Koo, Council Member Margaret Chin, and Council Member Daniel Dromm.

Council Speaker Quinn first expressed her heartfelt gratitude to the government of Taiwan for their generous donation, pointing out that Sandy was the worst natural disaster to befall New York City in the last 100 years. She went on to say that in some of the hardest-hit parts of the city, residents were still without homes and living in shelters, making it necessary for people from all walks of life to work together towards rebuilding and recovering. Comptroller Liu also thanked the ROC for their donation, saying that the relationship enjoyed by Taiwan and New York City is like that of brothers. He said that Taiwan is often affected by natural disasters like typhoons and earthquakes, and that in the past, New York City had come to its aid. He expressed that Taiwan’s enthusiastic donation in the wake of Sandy will to reinforce the strong friendship and will doubtlessly increase New York City residents’ positive impressions and esteem towards Taiwan. Finally, Liu said that as New York City’s first Taiwanese-American Comptroller, the ROC’s actions made him very proud to be of Taiwanese decent.

TECO-NY’s Director-General Ambassador Kao said that given Taiwan and New York City’s close connections, the recent suffering of the victims of Hurricane Sandy deeply saddened the Taiwanese government and people. The ROC government had decided to make the donation towards the relief efforts in the hopes that those affected can rebuild as quickly as possible and restore a sense of security and normalcy to their lives ‘)}