Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou departed on Sunday for a tour of Paraguay and the Caribbean but has tried to keep a US stopover low-key to avoid upsetting Beijing, officials said.
Ma’s office was tight-lipped about what will be his first stopover in New York since he took office in 2008. He was re-elected in January last year.
“It is not convenient for us to give details of President Ma’s itinerary in New York,” said Ma Wei-kuo, deputy spokeswoman for his office.
Ma’s predecessor Chen Shui-bian of the Beijing-sceptic Democratic Progressive Party made high-profile US transit visits which sparked protests by Beijing to Washington.
Beijing opposes any overseas visits by officials from Taiwan, which it still regards as part of its territory awaiting reunification. Washington switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979.
Local media said Ma plans to meet New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg as well as US congressmen and entrepreneurs. It said he would visit the memorial for the September 11, 2001, attacks, Chinatown and New York University, where he received his law school master’s degree.