Vice President Annette Lu (
Ministry spokesman Richard Shih (石瑞琦) said the itinerary of the US leg before Lu's visit to El Salvador had yet to be finalized.
Local television reported Lu was due to visit Los Angeles and New York, without specifying whom she would meet.
Lu and President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) have previously met US lawmakers during their stopovers but any meeting with US government officials was considered an unlikely move that would anger Beijing.
Relations between Taipei and Washington hit a low point after Chen called a landmark referendum in March on relations with China.
The referendum plans provoked a stinging rebuke from Washington, with US President George W. Bush saying he was against any unilateral move threatening the cross-straits status quo.
Lu's trip will also take her to Guatemala and El Salvador as part of Taipei's efforts to consolidate ties with its allies as China steps up a diplomatic push in the region, Taiwan's major international support base.
Twenty-six countries, 13 of them in Latin America, recognize Taiwan.
A Chinese-language newspaper reported that the failure of Honduran President Ricardo Maduro to stop off in Taipei during his current trip to Asia and Europe shows that ties between the two are in danger.
All eyes in Taipei were on whether Maduro would meet Chinese officials in Tokyo or quietly visit Beijing, the paper reported.
But Shih denied any threat to Honduras-Taiwan ties. "Ties with Honduras remain stable," he said.
In its diplomatic tug-of-war with Taipei, Beijing made a fresh score on March 30 when China swayed Dominica.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Former Taiwan People’s Party chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) may apply to visit home following the death of his father this morning, the Taipei Detention Center said. Ko’s father, Ko Cheng-fa (柯承發), passed away at 8:40am today at the Hsinchu branch of National Taiwan University Hospital. He was 94 years old. The center said Ko Wen-je was welcome to apply, but declined to say whether it had already received an application. The center also provides psychological counseling to people in detention as needed, it added, also declining to comment on Ko Wen-je’s mental state. Ko Wen-je is being held in detention as he awaits trial
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