Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) on Monday made a stopover in Philadelphia en route from New York to Washington, visiting the Liberty Bell, the symbol of American independence, in a trip that the State Department denied President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) when he stopped in the US last month.
Lee's stopover was arranged by the Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA), the group who have organized the rest of Lee's tour.
In Washington, Lee and his party were met at the historic Willard Hotel in the center of the city by an animated, banner-waving group of more than 100 Taiwanese-American supporters and members of the Greater Washington chapter of the Taiwanese Association of America.
The former president shook hands and exchanged greetings with the demonstrating well-wishers as they sang the Taiwanese song Formosa My Dream and shouted "Taiwan, go, go, go."
Lee made no comment to the press as he pushed through the scrum of journalists and photographers in the lobby.
While the welcome was enthusiastic, its size was purposely limited by the Taiwanese Association of America to avoid fomenting a feared counter-demonstration by pan-blue-camp forces in the Washington area, association president Huang Mei-yueh (黃美月) told the Taipei Times.
"We didn't tell all Taiwanese-Americans because we did not want to spread the news too much," she said.
Pan-blue-camp supporters were planning a protest for last night at the Taiwan-owned mansion Twin Oaks, where the Taipei Economic and Cultural Relations Office (TECRO) was to host a dinner for Lee.
Later in the day, Lee took a symbolic tour of the city by visiting the National Archives, the home of the originals of the US Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution, and then the Jefferson Memorial, the monument to US president Thomas Jefferson, the man who wrote the Declaration of Independence.
During his four days in Washington, Lee will attend a reception hosted by US congressmen in the Capitol today, hold a press conference at the National Press Club tomorrow, and hold closed-door meetings with academics and other members of the Taiwan-watching fraternity at the conservative Heritage Foundation and liberal Brookings Institution think tanks.
He will also attend a gala dinner hosted by the Taiwanese-American community.
While it is not clear if Lee will meet with members of the Bush administration, observers feel that some officials may attend one of the two think tank meetings, giving them a chance to discuss Taiwan's affairs with Lee. Officials may also attend the congressional reception.
While the visit was being billed by Lee's office as an opportunity to see "old friends," he is expected to spend much time pressing for US support for Taiwan.
A FAPA press release said that Lee would emphasize how recent and fragile Taiwan's democracy still is, and urge the US to stand firmly by its democratic ally in the region and help strengthen democracy and freedom by supporting democratic forces.
"He will appeal to the United States and the international community not to ignore the attempts of the Chinese authoritarian regime to absorb democratic Taiwan and help preserve democracy in Taiwan," the FAPA press release said.
In addition, Lee would urge the US to help Taiwan "normalize its relations with countries around the world and become a full and equal member of the international community."
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS