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Ma meets with US
lawmakers in NYC
MEMORY LANE: The president paid a visit to New
York University, where he studied law, visiting some of his old classrooms, an
office he had used and his old dormitory
Staff writer, with CNA, NEW YORK
Several US politicians expressed their support for Taiwan after meeting with
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) on Monday in New York, where he is making a
stopover enroute to Paraguay and the Carribean.
Democratic Representative Eliot Engel, a senior member of the US House of
Reprentatives Committee on Foreign Affairs, said after his meeting at the hotel
where Ma was staying that there is a strong feeling of support for Taiwan and
the people of Taiwan in the US Congress.
“I think what’s very important about it: it’s bipartisan supported by the US
Congress. It’s a bipartisan feeling. I know [US] President [Barack] Obama feels
that way too. We will make sure that will continue,” Engel said.
The congressman also said he told Ma that the committee approved the Taiwan
Policy Act at the beginning of this month, a bill that will help strengthen the
strong ties between Taiwan and the US if it becomes law, Engel said.
US Representative Gregory Meeks, another Democrat who met with Ma at a dinner
party hosted by the president at his hotel, said he had thanked Ma for his
administration’s donation of US$500,000 to New York after the city was ravaged
by Hurricane Sandy last year.
He said Ma and his guests talked about Taiwan’s visa-waiver privilege from the
US and its bid for access to the International Civil Aviation Organization, and
they agreed to promote further trade and economic exchanges between the two
countries.
Ma also met on Monday with former US secretary of labor Elaine Chao (趙小蘭), along
with her father, who was a classmate of Ma’s father-in-law, and her two sisters,
who are friends of Ma’s two daughters.
Earlier in the day, Ma, who earned his master of laws degree from New York
University (NYU) in 1976, visited the school, reminiscing about his romance with
Chow Mei-ching (周美青), who is now his wife.
NYU president John Sexton greeted Ma and presented him with two NYU baseball
caps, commemorative pens and his new books as gifts for Ma and his wife.
While at the university, Ma visited his old classrooms, a small basement office
he used and the dormitory he lived in across the street from the office.
He also visited the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association of New York in
China Town to express his appreciation to the association for its loyalty to the
Republic of China (ROC).
The association, which was founded in 1883, represents Chinese-Americans living
in the Greater New York metropolitan area. Ma is the first ROC president to
visit the association.
Besides a welcoming crowd who waved ROC national flags, there were also a score
of protesters, many of whom were Taiwanese students.
They held up banners similar to some seen when Ma arrived at his hotel on
Sunday, such as “[You] knock down houses in Dapu today; [we] tear down the
government tomorrow,” “Selling out Taiwan with black-hearted service trade pact”
and “Do you hear the people’s voice?” and shouted: “President Ma, did you get a
good sleep?”
According to local Chinese-Americans, there are very few Taiwanese living in or
around New York’s Chinatown; most of the ethnic Chinese come from China’s
Guangdong Province.
When asked whether they felt they were stepping on other people’s turf by
staging a protest in a place that rarely has contact with Taiwanesee, the
students said they were not scared, adding: “It feels less safe [if we protest]
in Taiwan.”
Ma arrived in New York on Sunday on a three-day transit stop ahead of a
five-nation tour that will cover Paraguay and four allies in the Caribbean.
It was the first time Ma has returned to New York since becoming president in
2008. He was scheduled to leave for Haiti yesterday.
Additional reporting by Peng Hsien-chun
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