Taipei, Oct. 20 (CNA) Former U.S. President Bill Clinton will visit Taiwan in mid-November, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) official confirmed Wednesday.
The former president is scheduled to deliver a speech in Taipei Nov. 14 as part of an invitational tour of Asia, organized by a Singaporean firm, MOFA spokesman James Chang said.
Clinton, who was U.S. president from 1993 to 2001, will arrive in Taiwan for a private business trip, Chang said, but the foreign ministry will provide necessary assistance and security during his stay based on a request made by the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) , the U.S. representative office in the absence of official bilateral ties.
Chang said that he was not aware of the details of the tour and declined to comment on whether Clinton, husband of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, will meet with President Ma Ying-jeou or other Taiwanese officials.
The ex-president will share with the audience his views on Taiwan's economic development and preview the country's economic outlook beyond 2010 in a topical speech, to be delivered at Taipei International Convention Center, the organizer UNI Strategic (Taiwan) Ltd., a subsidiary of the Singapore-based Universal Network Intelligence, said in a press release late Wednesday.
A moderated question and answer session will be conducted after the speech, the organizer said, adding that 10 percent of the total proceeds of the event will be donated to the Clinton Foundation, which was established by the former president to tackle issues including fighting AIDS, climate change and promoting democracy throughout the world.
Members of the public will be charged between NT$1,800 and NT$12,000 to listen to the speech.
It will be Clinton's sixth visit to Taiwan and his first since February 2005, when he first came to Taiwan after stepping down as president. He met with then President Chen Shui-bian and then chairman of the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) Lien Chan during a 22-hour whirlwind tour, which was sponsored by the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy.
Clinton also visited Taiwan four times when he was Governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and from 1983 to 1992.
The AIT declined to comment on the upcoming visit. (By Chris Wang) Enditem/jc