Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) arrived in New York City on Tuesday morning to begin a 12-day visit to the US that will also take him to Boston and Washington.
Ma was greeted at John F. Kennedy International Airport by Taiwanese officials from the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in New York, Taiwanese students and expatriates and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) members, as well as one of his former Harvard University professors, Jerome Cohen.
Cohen said he was delighted to meet with Ma again and extended his best wishes for a fruitful trip.
Ma did not respond in detail to waiting reporters who asked about his itinerary, saying only that he was invited by US think tanks and academic institutes, and that he would exchange opinions on issues of mutual concern.
Ma left the airport for the Harvard Club of New York, where he was scheduled to stay, before attending a closed-door round-table luncheon hosted by National Committee on US-China Relations president Stephen Orlins.
He was expected to attend a dinner and a concert held by the Asia Society to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the society’s Center on US-China Relations.
The trip is Ma’s third trip and second visit to the US since leaving office May last year: He attended the 8th World Chinese Economic Summit in Malaysia in November last year and an Asian leadership forum at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana that same month.
Ma is scheduled to depart the US for Taipei on Saturday next week.
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