Former US president Bill Clinton is scheduled to arrive in Taipei this evening on a private jet for a whirlwind visit of less than 24 hours, during which he will deliver a speech, meet with President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), and visit the Taipei International Flora Expo.
In his sixth visit to Taiwan, or the second time after retiring from his eight-year presidency in 2000, Clinton will mark the first time a former US president is visiting Taiwan during Ma’s term.
Clinton is scheduled to meet with Ma this evening at the Taipei International Conference Center (TICC), the first event in his itinerary after his arrival, sources said.
According to the organizer of the speech event, a subsidiary company of the Singapore-based Universal Network Intelligence (UNI), Clinton will predict the economic performance of the country and its economic direction beyond this year in his speech.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Timothy Yang (楊進添) will give an opening remark to welcome Clinton before his 40-minute speech, followed by a 30-minute question-and-answer session.
Prior to his Taiwan visit, Clinton made stops in Singapore and the Philippines’ where he delivered a speech under the topic of “Embracing Our Common Humanity.”
Clinton’s visiting entourage is composed of about 20 people, including about 10 US entrepreneurs of various businesses, UNI said.
Sources said that Clinton would visit the flora expo, including the US pavilion located in the Global Garden Area at the Yuanshan Park Area, tomorrow morning before he wraps up his trip in Taiwan at around noon.
As of yesterday, a meeting between Clinton and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) had not been arranged, DPP sources said.
Tickets to attend Clinton’s speech cost from NT$1,800 to NT$250,000.
UNI said that 10 percent of the ticket revenue will be donated to the William J. Clinton Foundation, which was established by Clinton with the stated mission to strengthen the capacity of people throughout the world to meet the challenges of global interdependence.
Clinton’s most recent trip to Taiwan was in February 2005, during which he met with then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) of the DPP as well as then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and attended a book-signing event for his autobiography, My Life.
A preclearance service to facilitate entry for people traveling to select airports in Japan would be available from Thursday next week to Feb. 25 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said on Tuesday. The service was first made available to Taiwanese travelers throughout the winter vacation of 2024 and during the Lunar New Year holiday. In addition to flights to the Japanese cities of Hakodate, Asahikawa, Akita, Sendai, Niigata, Okayama, Takamatsu, Kumamoto and Kagoshima, the service would be available to travelers to Kobe and Oita. The service can be accessed by passengers of 15 flight routes operated by
GIVE AND TAKE: Blood demand continues to rise each year, while fewer young donors are available due to the nation’s falling birthrate, a doctor said Blood donors can redeem points earned from donations to obtain limited edition Formosan black bear travel mugs, the Kaohsiung Blood Center said yesterday, as it announced a goal of stocking 20,000 units of blood prior to the Lunar New Year. The last month of the lunar year is National Blood Donation Month, when local centers seek to stockpile blood for use during the Lunar New Year holiday. The blood demand in southern Taiwan — including Tainan and Kaohsiung, as well as Chiayi, Pingtung, Penghu and Taitung counties — is about 2,000 units per day, the center said. The donation campaign aims to boost
ENHANCING EFFICIENCY: The apron can accommodate 16 airplanes overnight at Taoyuan airport while work on the third runway continues, the transport minister said A new temporary overnight parking apron at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport is to start operating on Friday next week to boost operational efficiency while the third runway is being constructed, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday. The apron — one of the crucial projects in the construction of the third runway — can accommodate 16 aircraft overnight at the nation’s largest international airport, Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) told reporters while inspecting the new facility yesterday morning. Aside from providing the airport operator with greater flexibility in aircraft parking during the third runway construction,
American climber Alex Honnold is to attempt a free climb of Taipei 101 today at 9am, with traffic closures around the skyscraper. To accommodate the climb attempt and filming, the Taipei Department of Transportation said traffic controls would be enforced around the Taipei 101 area. If weather conditions delay the climb, the restrictions would be pushed back to tomorrow. Traffic controls would be in place today from 7am to 11am around the Taipei 101 area, the department said. Songzhi Road would be fully closed in both directions between Songlian Road and Xinyi Road Sec 5, it said, adding that bidirectional traffic controls would
RSS