Presidential Office Secretary-General Chen Chu (陳菊) is to stay in the US to meet with state officials and Taiwanese expatriates in Los Angeles, Houston and other cities after President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) makes a transit stop on Sunday on her way to Asuncion to begin a state visit to Paraguay and Belize, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.
Chen Chu’s itinerary was still in the planning stage, Department of North American Affairs Deputy Director-General Regine Chen (陳慧蓁) told a news conference at the ministry in Taipei yesterday.
However, she would accompany Tsai on her engagements in the US, Regine Chen said, although the Presidential Office has yet to reveal details of Tsai’s US schedule except to say she would transit in Los Angeles on her way to South America and in Houston on her way home.
Photo: Lu Yi-hsuan, Taipei Times
Chen Chu will not be engaging in any campaign-related activities during her stay in the US, Regina Chen said.
Tsai is going to Asuncion to attend the inauguration of Paraguayan president-elect Mario Abdo Benitez on Wednesday.
From there she and her delegation will head to Belize and they will return to Taiwan on Aug. 20.
In other ministry-related developments, the ministry has asked the media to respect its decision to remove its Tuesday tweet in response to rumors that China had banned Christopher Robin, a new film about the creation of Winnie the Pooh books.
“Taiwan’s #OhBear is dismayed at the ban slapped on his cousin Winnie’s latest film by censors in #China,” the ministry had tweeted along with an image of Oh Bear, the Tourism Bureau’s mascot.
“Make no mistake: All bears are created equal in #Taiwan and @DisneyCRobin is screening nationwide,” it added.
CNN noticed the tweet and reported that the government had “mocked Beijing.”
“By drawing attention to rumors of a ban by Beijing on the film, Taiwan’s government is attempting to highlight its greater freedom of expression compared to the mainland,” CNN said.
The ministry on Wednesday told reporters that it had long used different channels to tell the world that Taiwan is a democratic nation with freedom of speech, but that night it removed the tweet from its feed, saying it wanted to “avoid any unnecessary misinterpretation.”
Asked why the ministry removed the tweet instead of asking the CNN for a correction, ministry spokesman Andrew Lee (李憲章) said that the ministry has different ways of handling misinterpretations and the media should respect its decision.
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