New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜), the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate, set out on an eight-day trip to the US yesterday, where he plans to meet with US congressional members and the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) chair.
Speaking to reporters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport before flying out at 4pm, Hou said that he would show the US his belief in safeguarding freedom and democracy, as well as his determination to maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.
Hou’s campaign office in a press release on Wednesday said that Hou also aims to strengthen bilateral ties with the US, while creating more opportunities for cooperation, reciprocity and mutual benefit.
Photo: CNA
The trip is a “journey of dialogue and deepening friendship,” it added.
The US has always been a strong ally, while Taipei and Washington share the values of democracy and freedom, Hou said.
During his visit from yesterday to Friday next week, Hou is to visit New York, New Jersey, Washington and San Francisco, the office said.
Officials including KMT Vice Chairman Andrew Hsia (夏立言), KMT envoy to the US Alexander Huang (黃介正), National Chengchi University College of International Affairs vice dean Lu Yeh-chung (盧業中) and Tamkang University Graduate Institute of International Affairs and Strategic Studies director Li Da-jung (李大中) are accompanying Hou on his trip, the office said.
Hou’s itinerary in New York is to include visits to think tanks, the National Committee on American Foreign Policy and Council on Foreign Relations, where he is to speak at symposiums.
In addition, he is to meet with Joseph Kahn, the executive editor of the New York Times, and be interviewed by Bloomberg News, the office said.
Hou is then to meet with members of the US Congress and AIT Chair Laura Rosenberger in Washington, and has been invited to speak at the Brookings Institution and the Heritage Foundation.
After Washington, Hou is to visit San Francisco to meet with heads of technology companies.
Meanwhile, Hou is also to meet with Taiwanese expatriates in New York, Washington, New Jersey and San Francisco to seek their support for his presidential bid in January, the office said.
The AIT yesterday issued Hou a “warm welcome,” while emphasizing that the US is committed to impartiality.
Many Taiwanese presidential candidates have traveled to or transited in the US, it said in a statement, adding that contacts in the US are in accordance with longstanding practice and consistent with the unofficial US-Taiwan relationship.
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