President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) on Sunday said that the treatment accorded to him by the US during his latest transit stop was the best ever.
Ma and his entourage arrived in Houston, Texas, on Sunday on a transit stop en route to Central America on his last overseas trip as president before stepping down in May.
In response to reporters’ questions regarding whether Washington had downgraded his treatment because of his recent visit to Itu Aba Island (Taiping Island, 太平島), part of the disputed Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島) in the South China Sea, as US officials had described the trip as “unhelpful” to attempts to resolve the disputes, Ma said there was no such thing.
Photo: CNA
In his previous visits to other nations over the past few years, he had been to Houston once, which consisted of a short refueling stop without any meetings with expatriates.
Ma said that this was his first formal transit stop in Houston, and that “this is what we wanted.”
Over the past eight years, Ma said he has taken several overseas trips and has made several transit stops in the US.
“I have been to several places on the US west coast, including Seattle, and New York and Boston on the east coast,” Ma said.
“The last place where we had not yet made a transit stop was the southern US, so this time, we intentionally chose Houston,” Ma said.
On May 20, Ma is to conclude his maximum two-term tenure as president, which began in 2008.
Ma is making his 12th overseas trip as president. During those visits, he has set foot on all 22 of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies land, mostly located in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lin (林永樂), who is accompanying Ma on the trip, said Taiwan-US relations have steadily grown over the past eight years.
“This smooth flight transfer is the best proof [of that],” he said.
American Institute in Taiwan Chairman Raymond Burghardt, who was at Sunday’s welcoming dinner, said it is a fact that the past eight years have been the best period for Taiwan-US relations.
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