President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) is scheduled to embark on a 10-day visit to Central America next Tuesday, for the first time accompanied by his wife, first lady Chow Mei-ching (周美青), as well as local chiefs and a performance group.
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Javier Hou (侯清山) told a press conference that Ma and the 159-person delegation would leave on May 26 and return on June 4. The main purpose will be to attend the inauguration of El Salvadoran president-elect Mauricio Funes on June 1.
Ma is scheduled to make a one-night stopover in Los Angeles on his way there and in Seattle on his way back. The trip will also take Ma to Belize and Guatemala.
Hou said Ma would not make any public appearances during his short stays in the US.
All activities will be conducted at his hotel, including meetings and phone conversations with friends and US officials. The ministry has arranged cultural and political events in Belize and Guatemala, including addresses to the two countries’ parliaments.
The ministry is still arranging bilateral meetings between Ma and leaders and representatives attending the inauguration in El Salvador. Honduran President President Jose Manuel Zelaya and Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega have agreed to attend the talks.
Hou said that no special arrangement had been made for a meeting between Ma and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, adding that the two could nevertheless “meet accidentally.”
This will be the first time Chow accompanies Ma on a trip abroad since the president came into office. Hou said she will interact with her counterparts from the three allied countries and attend cultural and charity events.
Local heads, student representatives and college principals will also be part of the delegation.
Billing the trip as “grassroots diplomacy” and “academic diplomacy,” Hou said the arrangement was the brainchild of many persons rather than solely the ministry.
While local elections will be held at the end of the year, Hou dismissed speculation that it played any role in local chiefs’ participation in the trip.
Of the 10 local chiefs, seven are mayors and three are township or village wardens. All but one are from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). The only exception is an independent village warden.
Also on the list are Chiayi Mayor and KMT Vice Chairwoman Huang Ming-hui (黃敏惠) and KMT legislators Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱), Justin Chou (周守訓) and Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑).
Snow fell in the mountainous areas of northern, central and eastern Taiwan in the early hours of yesterday, as cold air currents moved south. In the northern municipality of Taoyuan, snow started falling at about 6am in Fusing District (復興), district head Su Tso-hsi (蘇佐璽) said. By 10am, Lalashan National Forest Recreation Area, as well as Hualing (華陵), Sanguang (三光) and Gaoyi (高義) boroughs had seen snowfall, Su said. In central Taiwan, Shei-Pa National Park in Miaoli County and Hehuanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Nantou County saw snowfall of 5cm and 6cm respectively, by 10am, staff at the parks said. It began snowing
Global bodies should stop excluding Taiwan for political reasons, President William Lai (賴清德) told Pope Francis in a letter, adding that he agrees war has no winners. The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and Taipei has watched with concern efforts by Beijing and the Holy See to improve ties. In October, the Vatican and China extended an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four years, pointing to a new level of trust between the two parties. Lai, writing to the pope in response to the pontiff’s message on Jan. 1’s
HOLIDAY EXERCISE: National forest recreation areas from north to south offer travelers a wide choice of sights to connect with nature and enjoy its benefits Hiking is a good way to improve one’s health, the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency said, as it released a list of national forest recreation areas that travelers can visit during the Lunar New Year holiday. Taking a green shower of phytoncides in the woods could boost one’s immunity system and metabolism, agency Director-General Lin Hwa-ching (林華慶) cited a Japanese study as saying. For people visiting northern Taiwan, Lin recommended the Dongyanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Taoyuan’s Fusing District (復興). Once an important plantation in the north, Dongyanshan (東眼山) has a number of historic monuments, he said. The area is broadly covered by
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
RSS