By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) is scheduled to leave on a three-day visit to the Philippines on Friday, his fifth official overseas trip this year, the party said yesterday.
Su will lead a 27-member delegation, including 10 DPP legislators, for the 20th anniversary celebration and an annual meeting of the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats in Manila, Liu Shih-chung (劉世忠), director of the party’s Department of International Affairs, told a news conference.
Established in 1993 as a regional organization of liberal and democratic political parties and politicians in Asia, the council now has 16 members from the six countries of Taiwan, Thailand, South Korea, Cambodia, Malaysia and the Philippines.
“The intensive overseas trips reflected that international affairs and relations have been high on the DPP’s and Su’s agenda,” Liu said.
The chairman would deliver a speech on Saturday with the theme of the changing political, economic and military dynamics in the Asia-Pacific region in the past year and highlight the importance of the establishment of a democratic alliance, Liu said.
Su visited Japan, Singapore, Canada and the US, as well as Thailand, during his previous four trips this year.
According to Liu, a trip to Europe planned for this month has been pushed back after the political crisis involving prosecutors wiretapping the legislature and the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) infighting erupted in September.