President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) could meet US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton tomorrow when the two attend the inauguration of El Salvadoran president-elect Mauricio Funes.
Ambassador to El Salvador Carlos Liao (廖世傑) said Ma would be seated on the stage next to outgoing Panamanian President Martin Torrijos and Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, while Clinton was due to sit off the stage with other dignitaries.
There is a big chance that the two would meet “accidentally,” he said.
PHOTO: CNA
Despite Funes’ public advocacy of forging closer ties with Beijing during his election campaign, Liao said China had not arranged to send a delegation to the inauguration before registration closed on Monday.
Liao was tight-tipped about Ma’s bilateral talks with other leaders, saying arrangements were still being made.
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Javier Hou (侯清山) said prior to Ma’s trip that the ministry was arranging bilateral meetings between Ma and leaders and representatives attending the inauguration. Ortega and Honduran President Jose Manuel Zelaya had agreed to attend the talks, Hou said.
Ma is leading a 159-member delegation to attend Funes’ inauguration, bringing first lady Chow Mei-ching (周美青), local government heads, student representatives, college principals and a performance group.
He made a one-night stopover in Los Angeles on his way to El Salvador and will stop in Seattle on his way back. Ma, who left Belize for Guatemala on Thursday, had talks with Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom, who welcomed Ma with a 21-gun salute and a military honor guard.
The two issued a joint statement after exchanging views on bilateral and multi-lateral relations as well as the international situation.
Ma and Colom expressed satisfaction over Taiwan and Guatemala’s long-standing friendship and close cooperation, pledging to strengthen joint efforts in politics, foreign affairs, trade, technology and culture. They also recognized the progress of a cooperation project for highway expansion.
Ma, who gave Colom a Taiwanese bicycle as a gift, instructed the embassy to give Colom’s wife another one after the Guatemalan president mentioned that he and his wife have recently developed a new passion for cycling.
Previously in Belize, Ma and Belizean Prime Minister Dean Barrow held talks and reached a consensus on strengthening cooperation in fishing and agriculture.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Francisco Ou (歐鴻鍊), who accompanied Ma on the trip, said detailed projects would be proposed after each side’s government officials, experts and academics conclude their visits.
“We want to teach them how to fish, and not just give them fish,” he said.
Ou said learning from previous experience, the ministry would no longer distribute foreign aid as lump sums but instead distribute it in accordance with the progress of cooperation projects.
Ma and his delegation are scheduled to leave for El Salvador today.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS