Saturday, December 01, 2012

DPP delegation to visit US as part of ‘party diplomacy’

By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter

A Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) delegation is scheduled to visit the US this month as part of its “party diplomacy” effort, the party said yesterday.

The delegation, which includes DPP Representative to the US Joseph Wu (吳釗燮), Department of International Affairs Director Liu Shih-chung (劉世忠), former National Security Council deputy secretary-general Antonio Chiang (江春男) and former deputy representative to the US David Huang (黃偉峰) is scheduled to visit Washington on Monday.

“The visit is part of the party’s plan to reach out to all major allies, with closer exchanges and extensive observation of the political developments in those partners,” DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) told a press conference held at the party’s headquarters.

Su said the delegation would meet with US government officials, lawmakers, think tanks and members of the Taiwanese-American community.

Wu, who also serves as executive director of the DPP’s Policy Research Committee, would start work on re-establishing the DPP’s office in Washington to promote better communications with Taiwan’s closest diplomatic ally, Su said.

The delegation plans to meet with four US think tanks; the Stimson Center, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the Heritage Foundation and the Project 2049 Institute, plus the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Wu said.

Taiwan’s former representative to the US declined to disclose which US government agencies the party would meet with — a traditional diplomatic practice — but said that the delegation would have opportunities to engage in comprehensive discussions with many key officials in charge of Taiwan affairs, as well as hopefuls who could serve in US President Barack Obama’s new Cabinet.

Wu denied the trip is related to new Representative to the US King Pu-tsung (金溥聰).

Four symposiums with the Taiwanese-American community and two meetings with US diplomatic policy experts are also on the itinerary, Wu said.

“We would like to make the trip a communication channel, to have the DPP’s voice heard in the best possible way,” Wu said, adding that the main topics they would discuss include the Taiwanese economy, security, democratic development and how to strengthen Taiwan-US ties.

“The DPP has been working hard to build connections with countries in the Asia-Pacific region,” said Liu, who has visited Thailand and Japan in the past two weeks to meet with politicians.

The DPP plans to send a delegation to South Korea next month to observe its presidential election and is planning a visit by Su to the US next summer.