President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) arrived in Boston on Saturday, en route to the Caribbean and Central America, as part of his 11th overseas visit since assuming office in 2008.
American Institute in Taiwan Chairman Raymond Burghardt and Representative to the US Shen Lyu-shun (沈呂巡) greeted him at the airport.
Ma later visited his alma mater, Harvard University, where he also met with former premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺), who is a visiting scholar at Harvard.
Photo: CNA
Ma, who received his doctorate in juridical science from Harvard Law School in 1981, took a stroll across the campus and revisited the law school complex, libraries, research institutes, dormitory and a big tree, which he said he was obsessed with when he was a student there and has since occasionally dreamed about.
While riding in a vehicle on campus to look for the tree, Ma let out a happy cry when he spotted it and got out to embrace the tree.
From Boston, Ma is scheduled to fly to the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Nicaragua.
Photo: CNA
While in the Dominican Republic, Ma is to deliver a speech to the Dominican Congress and hold talks with Dominican President Danilo Medina, officials said.
In Haiti, Ma and Haitian President Michel Martelly are to jointly open a new Haitian Supreme Court office building. The project was financed by the Taiwanese government and took two years to complete.
While in Nicaragua, Ma is to meet with Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and visit Taiwanese businesses in the country. He is also expected to be presented with the key to the city during a visit to the historically important city of Granada.
Ma is scheduled to return home on Saturday after a transit stop in Los Angeles.
Ma last visited Harvard nine years ago when he was mayor of Taipei and chairman of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
Additional reporting by Wang Yu-chung
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to