President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) left yesterday on a nine-day trip that is to take her to Paraguay and Belize, with stopovers in the US.
Tsai made a brief statement at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, saying that it is her duty as the president to conduct diplomacy on the nation’s behalf.
“In going abroad, the whole world can see Taiwan; they can see our nation as well as our support for democracy and freedom,” Tsai said. “We only need to be firm so that no one can obliterate Taiwan’s existence.”
Photo: CNA
Tsai said she has three messages to convey during her trip: Taiwan would congratulate its diplomatic allies and thank them for their time-honored friendship and support in the international arena; it would continue its development of ties with other nations; and her administration would strive to strengthen Taiwan and safeguard its free and democratic values.
Tsai was scheduled to arrive in Los Angeles at about noon yesterday and stay overnight before departing for Paraguay today; she is to transit through Houston, Texas, on her way home from Belize.
Many people will be watching to see if Tsai is treated differently during her transit stops or has more interaction with politicians than in the past, given that US President Donald Trump signed the Taiwan Travel Act into law in March.
Photo: CNA
The act allows high-level US officials to visit Taiwan and vice versa, in contrast to previous US policy that did not allow bilateral visits by Cabinet-level officials, but did allow Taiwanese presidents to transit through US cities on visits to third countries.
Tsai is to attend the inauguration of Paraguayan president-elect Mario Abdo Benitez on Wednesday as part of a three-day visit.
She is to fly to Belize on Thursday for a three-day visit, during which she is to be decorated by Governor-General Colville Young, visit Belizean Prime Minister Dean Barrow and give a speech to parliament.
Tsai is scheduled to leave Belize on Aug. 18 and make a 27-hour stopover in Houston before arriving home on Aug. 20.
Presidential Office Secretary-General Chen Chu (陳菊) is accompanying Tsai on the flight to Los Angeles, but is to stay in the US when Tsai heads for Paraguay.
Chen is to visit five US cities before she rejoins Tsai in Houston.
The Taiwan Center Foundation of Greater Los Angeles is organizing a welcoming party for Tsai, foundation chairman Alan Thian (田詒鴻) said on Saturday, adding the party is expected to draw more than 1,000 Taiwanese expatriates.
However, Chinese expatriate groups in the city said that they were mobilizing at least 500 people to demonstrate outside Tsai’s hotel and would rent an airplane to fly a banner reading “Only One China. Taiwan is a part of China” over central Los Angeles.
Foundation chief executive officer Lin Jung-sung (林榮松) said he believes that Chinese immigrants come to the US because they want to enjoy the US’ freedoms and democracy.
“It is quite strange that Chinese immigrants are focusing their outrage on Tsai, a democratically elected head of state, instead of protesting the unfree dictatorship in China,” he said.
Hsieh Tsung-huang (謝宗煌), a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) official at the party’s southwestern US chapter, on Saturday said that while the KMT disagrees with the policies of the Tsai administration, it has had no hand in the protests planned in the US.
“We do not collaborate with China to protest our own president,” he told a news conference organized with several pan-blue Taiwanese-American groups.
PALAU LAUNCHES: The source said that Taiwanese military personnel traveled to Palau, where a US brigade watched their work amid plans for a defense network The military last month participated in live-fire launches of MM-104F Patriot (PAC-3) missiles under US observation in an undisclosed location in Palau, a step forward in a US-led plan to create a joint defense missile system in the first island chain, a source said on condition of anonymity. The PAC-3 is the mainstay surface-to-air missile of the US, NATO and democratic nations in East Asia, the source said, adding that it has never been live-tested within Taiwan’s borders, the source said. The proximity of Taiwan to China and China’s close surveillance of the nation’s borders and nearby sea zones is a significant
IN MOURNING: Tsai visited the site and spoke with family members of those killed, while all the major presidential candidates said they would temporarily halt campaigning A fire and subsequent explosions at a golf ball factory at Pingtung Technology Industrial Park (屏東科技產業園區) killed at least seven people, including four firefighters, and injured 98, while three were still missing, authorities said yesterday. The blaze at Launch Technologies Co’s (明揚國際) plant on Jingjian Road raged for more than 12 hours after it started at about 5pm on Friday, officials said. The Pingtung County Fire Bureau early yesterday used large excavators to search for missing people, while family members waited at the scene. Pingtung County Fire Bureau Director Hsu Mei-hsueh (許美雪) said the bureau received a call about the fire at 5:31pm
DETERRENCE: The president on Thursday is to launch the first indigenous submarine, which is to enter sea trials next month before being delivered to the navy next year Taiwan hopes to deploy at least two new, domestically developed submarines by 2027, and possibly equip later models with missiles to bolster its deterrence against the Chinese navy and protect key supply lines, the head of the program said. Taiwan has made the Indigenous Submarine Program a key part of an ambitious project to modernize its armed forces as Beijing stages almost daily military exercises. President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who initiated the program when she took office in 2016, is expected to launch the first of eight new submarines on Thursday under a plan that has drawn on expertise and technology from
FISHING FUROR: The latest spat was sparked by a floating barrier that was found across the entrance of Scarborough Shoal during a resupply mission to fishers Beijing yesterday warned Manila not to “stir up trouble” after the Philippine Coast Guard said it removed a floating barrier at a disputed reef that was allegedly deployed by China to block Filipino fishers from the area. Scarborough Shoal (Huangyan Island, 黃岩島) in the South China Sea has long been a source of tension between the nations. China seized the ring of reefs from the Philippines in 2012 and has since deployed patrol boats. The latest spat was sparked by a 300m floating barrier that was found across the entrance of the shoal last week during a routine Philippine government resupply mission