President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) arrived in Miami, Florida, on Friday en route to Panama, where she is to begin her first visit as Taiwan’s head of state since taking office on May 20.
After the presidential charter flight touched down at the airport, Tsai was greeted by American Institute in Taiwan Managing Director Joe Donovan.
In the afternoon, US Senator Marco Rubio met with Tsai at her hotel to reiterate US friendship with Taiwan and the US’ commitment to an ally, Rubio told reporters.
Screengrab from Senator Marco Rubio’s personal Web site
Later on Friday evening, Tsai attended a banquet attended by nearly 300 Taiwanese expatriates.
Saying that diplomatic work is not easy, Tsai said in her speech that “not just diplomatic officials, but every hard-working Taiwanese expat overseas is the best spokesperson for Taiwanese diplomacy.”
During her 24-hour transit in the Florida city, Tsai was also to visit the Port of Miami and meet with Taiwanese Miami Marlins pitcher Chen Wei-yin (陳偉殷).
Tsai’s first stop on US soil as president comes one day after the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations passed a resolution that reaffirmed the Taiwan Relations Act and the “six assurances” as the foundation of relations between the US and Taiwan.
Yesterday, Tsai was scheduled to arrive in Panama, where she was to meet with a US congressional delegation that is attending the opening ceremony of the expanded Panama Canal.
She is scheduled to leave for Paraguay tomorrow.
Tsai is to depart Paraguay on Thursday for Los Angeles, where she is to stay overnight before returning to Taiwan on Saturday next week.
UPGRADE: The Kang Ding-class frigate is replacing its Chaparall missiles with Tien Chien II and Hua Yang VLS, which would provide it with long-range, 360° air defense Taiwan plans to produce 1,200 to 1,376 Hai Chien II missiles (海劍二, Sea Sword II) — also known as TC-2N — to serve as the standard air defense system of the navy’s surface combatant fleet, a source said yesterday. Last week, the Hai Chien II, the naval version of the Tien Kung II missile (天劍二, Sky Sword II), completed a live-fire test in waters off the National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology’s Jiupeng facility (九鵬) in Pingtung County’s Manjhou Township (滿州). The MIM72 Chaparral and other dated air defense missiles that currently arm Taiwanese ships have inadequate range to combat Chinese
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
RSS