American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Chairman Raymond Burghardt used the climate as a metaphor to describe US-Taiwan relations at a dinner for President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) in Los Angeles on Monday night, suggesting a thaw in bilateral ties had taken place since the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) took office in May.
Ma is leading a delegation to the inaugurations of Paraguayan president-elect Fernando Lugo tomorrow and Dominican Republican President Leonel Fernandez on Saturday on his first foreign trip since taking office.
The presidential delegation made a 16-hour stop over in Los Angeles on their way to South America.
PHOTO: CNA
“The last time I welcomed Taiwan’s president was on the [freezing] tarmac in Alaska in January and I’m happy that today it is in Los Angeles where the temperature is 82˚ F [28˚C],” Burghardt was quoted as saying at the dinner by a government official, who declined to be named.
The official also declined to elaborate on Burghardt’s statement, asking journalists to draw their own conclusions.
INTERPRETATION
But it was widely interpreted as a dig at former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), whose efforts to promote Taiwan’s identity got an icy reception in Washington.
Burghardt and Representative to the US Jason Yuan (袁健生) met Ma at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) before his motorcade was escorted to his hotel by police cars.
China Airlines (CAL) erected a banner in Chinese that read “Welcome President Ma to the US” on the airport apron ahead of Ma’s arrival on a CAL flight from Taipei.
At Ma’s request, overseas government personnel talked Taiwanese expatriates out of holding a welcoming ceremony for him at the airport.
Ma also called off a plan for him to host a banquet for expatriates to keep the stopover as simple as possible.
Derek Hsu (徐振德), senior press officer of the press division of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Los Angeles, quoted Burghardt as telling Yuan at the airport as they waited to greet Ma: “I have nothing to complain about,” referring to the arrangements for Ma’s transit.
Yuan reminded the AIT chief that the welcome banner had been prepared by CAL, not his office.
The US was pleased that there was no crowd to greet Ma at the airport, the banquet for expatriates had been canceled and no journalists covered Ma’s arrival in the US, Hsu said.
CONGRESSIONAL LINKS
During his stay in Los Angeles, Ma had telephone conversations with six members of the House of Representatives and four senators and met with four US members of Congress from the Los Angeles area, a source with Ma’s delegation said.
The president had dinner with 50 overseas Taiwanese leaders, members of Congress and Ma’s US friends, the source said, refusing to give any names.
Ma told the US lawmakers that Taiwan had established high-level mutual trust with China and the US and that the amelioration of cross-trait relations would enhance and benefit Taiwan-US ties, the source said.
“Ma expressed willingness to pursue the allegedly frozen arms sales from the US and interest in signing a free trade agreement with the US,” the source said.
Presidential Office Spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) refused to say if Ma met with US government officials to discuss Taiwan’s UN bid this year.
He would neither confirm nor deny a report that Ma would talk to Republican Senator John McCain and Democratic Senator Barack Obama, the presumptive US presidential candidates.
BETTER TIES
In Taipei, AIT Director Stephen Young said that Ma’s low-profile stopover would help improve US-Taiwan-China relations.
“It was agreed President Ma would make a low-profile first visit ... It’s a good idea,” Young told reporters.
Ma was scheduled to leave Los Angeles for Paraguay at 6am yesterday with a two-hour refueling stop in Panama where Panamanian President Martin Torrijos is expected hold talks with him at the airport.
Additional reporting by Mo Yan-chih and CNA
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