New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜), the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential candidate, is to visit the US next month to meet with lawmakers and affirm his commitment to Taiwan’s democratic values, his campaign office said yesterday.
During the eight-day visit, Hou is also to meet with Taiwanese expatriates to seek their support for his presidential bid, the office said in a statement.
However, the wider purpose of the trip is to lay the groundwork for deeper relations between Taiwan and the US, and to promote continued substantive exchanges between the two sides, the statement said.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
Hou’s aim is to assert his commitment to the democratic system in the Republic of China (Taiwan) and its values of freedom, it said.
To this end, Hou would meet with members of the US Congress and with American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Chair Laura Rosenberger, and he would also visit some think tanks, his office said.
He is scheduled to depart Taiwan on Sept. 14, flying first to New York, and then to Washington and San Francisco for various engagements, before returning to Taiwan on Sept. 22, the statement said.
The finer details of Hou’s visit are still being worked out, and a full itinerary and list of delegation members would be released at a later date, it said.
Hou is to come up against Vice President William Lai (賴清德) of the Democratic Progressive Party and Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), the other two candidates in the presidential election in January next year.
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