Mike Huckabee, a former governor of Arkansas and candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, will visit Taiwan in a private trip this week, organizers said yesterday.
The former governor is scheduled to arrive in Taipei today for the promotion of his book Do the Right Thing and will make an invitation-only appearance at the Taipei International Convention Center tomorrow, said Jack Hu, managing director of the visit’s organizer, London International Group.
Hu did not elaborate on details of Huckabee’s visit, which will not be announced until today, but he said Huckabee could meet local political heavyweights during his stay.
The event tomorrow, called “An Evening with Governor Mike Huckabee,” will begin with remarks from Huckabee and then be followed with a moderated question-and-answer session, Hu said.
Huckabee last visited Taiwan in June 2006 when he was still governor of Arkansas and chairman of the National Governors Association and met then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
The association passed a resolution in 2003 supporting Taiwan’s bid to become an observer at the World Health Assembly and in 2005 the state of Arkansas passed a resolution recommending the signing of a Taiwan-US free-trade agreement.
In his bid for the Republican nomination for president, Huckabee won eight states and more than 4 million votes in the primaries before pulling out of the race in March 2008.
Huckabee served as governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007 and has been recognized by Time magazine as one of the five best governors in the US.
He hosts the political talk show Huckabee on Fox News.
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