Honolulu, Aug. 7 (CNA) Republic of China Vice President Annette Lu and her entourage arrived in Hawaii Thursday on the first stop of her "Democratic Pacific" tour, with the main destination being Latin America.
Lu was met at the Honolulu International Airport by Taiwan's top representative in the United States, Chen Chien-jen, and officials from the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) , the de facto U.S. embassy in the ROC in the absence of formal diplomatic ties between the two countries.
At her hotel room, the vice president received Manuel Menendez, a Honolulu government official in charge of economic development affairs, who is representing the mayor of Honolulu as the host of Lu and her entourage during their two-day stay in Hawaii.
Lu then visited Hawaii's East West Center, one of the top research think tanks in the United States, where Lu was met by acting center director Nancy Davis Lewis.
Lu told her host group that she has been actively promoting the establishment and operations of the Democratic Pacific Union, an organization that she envisages serving as an international stronghold upholding and bolstering democratization in the Pacific Rim.
The vice president invited the East West Center and Hawaiian Governor Linda Lingle to take part in the first Democratic Pacific Assembly slated to be held in Taipei next month, which she said is expected to usher in the arrival of the genuine "Era of the Pacific."
Political, academic and business leaders from 20 Pacific Rim countries and areas are expected to attend the assembly, Lu said.