Taiwan Today

Vice President Chen Chien-jen will depart Aug. 13 on a seven-day trip to Republic of China (Taiwan) diplomatic ally the Dominican Republic to attend the inauguration of the Caribbean nation’s re-elected president, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Chen will represent President Tsai Ing-wen at the Aug. 16 inauguration of President Danilo Medina and Vice President Margarita Cedeno de Fernandez and hold discussions with the two leaders on deepening bilateral cooperation, MOFA Deputy Minister Javier Ching-shan Hou said Aug. 5. It will be Chen’s first overseas trip since taking office in May. The invitation to the event was extended by Dominican Republic Foreign Minister Andres Navarro when he attended the May 20 inauguration of President Tsai and Vice President Chen on behalf of Medina. The ROC was the first country invited to the ceremony, demonstrating the strong relations between the two countries, Hou said. Chen will lead a 14-member delegation to the Dominican Republic that includes his wife Luo Feng-ping, National Security Council Deputy Secretary-General Tseng Hou-jen and Deputy Foreign Minister Hou. During his Aug. 14-17 stay in the country, Chen will meet ROC citizens living and working there and visit bilateral cooperation projects, including an emergency services call center; an integrated care facility for children with special needs in Santo Domingo, the nation’s capital; an orchid farm; and a solar power plant funded by Taiwan enterprises. The vice president will stop over in New York on the outbound and inbound legs of the trip. He is scheduled to meet with representatives of Taiwan’s expatriate community in the U.S. city on the return layover, before arriving back in Taiwan Aug. 20. The ROC established formal diplomatic relations with the Dominican Republic in 1941. The Caribbean nation is home to about 15,000 overseas Chinese. Most of the early Chinese immigrants hailed from mainland China’s Guangdong province, though in more recent decades many people have moved to the nation from Taiwan to establish and invest in agricultural enterprises and manufacturing businesses in such areas as automotive parts and plastic goods. (WF-E) Write to Taiwan Today at ttonline@mofa.gov.tw