President Tsai to address New York event in late March: report
ROC Central News Agency
03/10/2023 01:47 PM
Taipei, March 10 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) will speak at a think tank event in New York at the end of March when she transits through the United States on her visit to Central America, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.
Tsai will address the event in New York hosted by the Hudson Institute on March 30 (U.S. time), during which she will also receive a "global leadership award" from the Washington-based think tank, the report said.
Taiwan's Presidential Office has neither confirmed nor denied the reported trip to America by Tsai.
In response to CNA's request for a comment, the Office said it would report any such trip by the president to the public once it is finalized.
Other officials have hinted more directly, however, that the trip will take place.
Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) said Friday that the president's itinerary was being arranged, without elaborating.
Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青), the head of the Overseas Community Affairs Council, told a legislative hearing a day earlier on Thursday morning that Tsai would meet with Taiwanese expatriates when transiting in the U.S.
The Financial Times first broke the news on Tuesday that Tsai was planning to visit Guatemala and Belize in early April and make stopovers in New York and California en route to and from Central America.
The report also said Tsai would meet with U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in his home state of California and give a speech at the Reagan library in Simi Valley.
McCarthy later confirmed plans to meet with Tsai in the U.S. this year and said that such an arrangement would not preclude a future visit to Taiwan.
Despite a lack of diplomatic relations between Taiwan and the U.S., Washington has over the years allowed Taiwanese presidents to make stopovers on American soil during their trips to Latin America, the Caribbean, or Africa.
Speaking at a press briefing on Wednesday, U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said transits of the U.S. by high-level Taiwan officials "are consistent with longstanding U.S. policy and with our unofficial and strong relations with Taiwan."
Price added that Tsai had transited through the U.S. six times since she took office in 2016.
On the other hand, China, which opposes any official contact between Taiwan and the U.S., said it had "presented strong objections to Washington" and demanded that the latter "clarify the situation."
(By Teng Pei-ju)
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