INDEPENDENCE DAY MESSAGE: The president expressed hope that the ‘rock-solid’ relationship between Taiwan and the US would continue to improve By Jonathan Chin / Staff writer Freedom and democracy can help further strengthen Taiwan-US ties, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday as he congratulated the US on its Independence Day, expressing hope for continued deepening of relations based on the Taiwan Relations Act and the “six assurances.” “Two hundred and fifty years ago, the great American people, in a show of superlative courage, wrote a new chapter in the history of the quest for freedom and equality,” he said in a video on the American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) Facebook page. This courage has spread and taken root in the nations across the globe, and continues to affect the worl