President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has given the delegation that is to attend the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump next week the task of “congratulating, thanking and interacting,” the delegation’s leader said on Friday.
Former premier Yu Shyi-kun is to lead the 11-member delegation that includes lawmakers from across the political spectrum to the inauguration on Friday next week. The group is to depart for the US tomorrow.
Yu said Tsai told him before she departed for a nine-day state visit to four of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies in Central America on Saturday last week that “congratulating, thanking and interacting” would be the delegation’s task in the US.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
“I will happily congratulate president Trump,” Yu said, adding that he would thank the US for its National Defense Authorization Act for this fiscal year and the “six assurances” that have kept Taiwan-US relations moving forward.
He said he has personally prepared 100 first day covers as gifts for US friends and Taiwanese expats during the upcoming trip.
The first day covers have little monetary value but are still meaningful, he said.
On each of the first day covers are three stamps, one issued under the name the Republic of China (Taiwan), one under the name the Republic of China, and one under the name Taiwan.
From the stamps, people can see it has been hard for Taiwan to become a “normal nation,” Yu said.
The delegation includes Yu’s wife, Yang Bao-yu (楊寶玉), Taichung Mayor Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍), Chiayi County Commissioner Helen Chang (張花冠), National Security Council adviser Tung Chen-yuan (童振源) and a number of lawmakers.
The delegation is scheduled to return to Taiwan on Jan. 23.
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