Former president Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) office yesterday said it would not comment on a US media outlet’s report saying that Tsai is to visit the US in the next few weeks after finishing her current travels in Europe.
Politico’s National Security Daily newsletter cited two people familiar with the plans as saying that the former president plans to visit the US “sometime after her current trip” to the EU.
The White House and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US declined to respond to the publication’s request for comment.
Photo: screen grab from Tsai Ing-wen’s Facebook page
Tsai’s office yesterday declined to comment on the report, saying only that any overseas trip by Tsai would be announced in due course.
While it is not unprecedented for former Taiwanese presidents to travel to the US — the most recent being former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) visit to Harvard University for a talk last month — the timing of her potential visit, whether just before or after the US elections, could raise some eyebrows.
National Security Daily said that if Tsai visits the US before the presidential election on Nov. 5, she “risks becoming an object of political grandstanding by GOP [Republican] and Democratic lawmakers seeking photo ops with the former two-term president to burnish their tough-on-China credentials.”
If the visit falls after the election, but before the inauguration, the US president-elect might seek to have an in-person meeting with Tsai “to underscore US support for Taiwan,” it added.
Tsai departed on Saturday to visit the Czech Republic, Belgium and France, and her trip is to conclude later this week.
It is her first overseas trip since leaving office in May after serving two four-year terms.
On Monday, she addressed the Forum 2000 Conference in Prague on Taiwan’s democratic experience and is scheduled to visit the European Parliament in Brussels and meet with members of the assembly.
Meanwhile, as Tsai touched down in Paris on Tuesday, she said the visit was aimed at enhancing partnerships with France and reaffirming Taiwan’s commitment to shared values.
In a social media post, Tsai announced her arrival in the French capital with a photo of her posing in front of the Louvre Museum.
She was set to meet with “good friends” in France to reaffirm Taiwan’s commitment to democracy, freedom and human rights, while also seeking to enhance partnerships with France, Tsai said, without specifying what that might entail.
She is expected to meet with French senators who are also members of a Taiwan friendship group in the French Senate.
Prior to her departure on Saturday, Tsai met with President William Lai (賴清德), who described her as being “deeply trusted” in the international community and hence “an ideal representative” to help Taiwan and Europe improve ties.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs last week described Tsai, a member of the Democratic Progressive Party, as a “Taiwanese independence figure” and said European countries providing any support or assistance to her could undermine their relations with China.
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