Tom DeLay, the majority whip of the US House of Representa-tives, will lead a 16-member delegation that is scheduled to arrive in Taipei today for a three-day visit.
DeLay's visit is the first since he became the House majority whip in 1994, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.
Ministry officials said Delay is known for his pro-Taiwan stance in the US House of Representatives. He was invited by President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to conduct a whirlwind visit of Taiwan.
Delay is scheduled to give a 20-minute luncheon talk on the subject of "the wind of freedom" tomorrow. The lunch is being hosted by Jeffrey Koo (辜濂松), chairman of the Chinese National Association of Industry and Commerce and one of Taiwan's ambassadors-at-large, sources close to Koo said.
Other members of the delegation are Representatives Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Ander Crenshaw.
Taiwan is the second stop on the delegation's trip to Asia. Other stops are South Korea, Malaysia and Singapore.
The group plans to call on President Chen tomorrow and visit the National Palace Museum, as well as Lungshan Temple.
Last year, DeLay supported the Taiwan Security Enhancement Act and actively promoted the bill in his capacity as the Republican whip in the House.
Ros-Lehtinen co-signed a joint letter to President George W. Bush that called for arms sales to Taiwan earlier this year, while Crenshaw supported House Resolution No. 428 on Taiwan's bid for entrance into the World Health Organization (WHO).
Meanwhile, US Representative Joseph Hoeffel is also to arrive in Taipei today for a four-day visit, the first in his capacity as a US congressman, another foreign ministry press release said.
Hoeffel supported the House resolution on Taiwan's WHO bid this year and the joint letter to Bush to call for arms sales to Taiwan.
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