Taiwan and the United States held a government-to-government dialogue Monday to discuss expanding cooperation in the Pacific region, the first of its kind since the self-ruled island lost two diplomatic allies in the Pacific in a week last month.

The first U.S.-Taiwan Pacific Islands Dialogue was co-organized by the Foreign Ministry and Washington's de facto embassy, the American Institute in Taiwan.

Among those attending the one-day meeting was Sandra Oudkirk, a deputy assistant secretary in the State Department's Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, who said the United States wants to see a free and open Indo-Pacific and deepen its relationships with nations across the region that share its values.