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.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by