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.
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
SHIFT: Taiwan’s better-than-expected first-quarter GDP and signs of weakness in the US have driven global capital back to emerging markets, the central bank head said The central bank yesterday blamed market speculation for the steep rise in the local currency, and urged exporters and financial institutions to stay calm and stop panic sell-offs to avoid hurting their own profitability. The nation’s top monetary policymaker said that it would step in, if necessary, to maintain order and stability in the foreign exchange market. The remarks came as the NT dollar yesterday closed up NT$0.919 to NT$30.145 against the US dollar in Taipei trading, after rising as high as NT$29.59 in intraday trading. The local currency has surged 5.85 percent against the greenback over the past two sessions, central