President and Mrs. Ma Ying-jeou, accompanied by Vice President and Mrs. Vincent Siew, received greetings on the morning of October 10 at the Office of the President from foreign diplomats stationed in Taiwan, and from visiting delegations and envoys currently in Taiwan to attend the ROC's 2010 National Day celebrations.
The list of 216 well-wishers included Sao Tome and Principe President Fradique Bandeira Melo de Menezes, Solomon Islands Prime Minister Danny Philip and Mrs. Philip, and the Honorable Elizabeth F.Y. Renner, Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of The Gambia. The guests arrived at the Presidential Office at 9:25 a.m. to take part in the celebrations. President Ma and Mrs. Ma, together with Vice President and Mrs. Vincent Siew, exchanged warm greetings and handshakes with each of the guests, and thanked them for coming. Also on hand for the event were Presidential Secretary-General Liouyi Liao and Foreign Minister Timothy Chin-tien Yang.
In addition to President de Menezes and Prime Minister Philip, other key guests included: delegations from the Republic of Palau (led by Minister of State Hon. Victor Yano, MD), Japan (led by Japan-ROC Diet Members' Consultative Council Chairman Takeo Hiranuma), and many other nations; members of the Diplomatic Corps in the ROC, including H.E. Amb. & Mrs. Jacques Sawadogo of Burkina Faso; the ROC-based representatives of various national and international bodies, including Eric Madison, Deputy Director of the American Institute in Taiwan, Taipei Office, and David Campbell, Director of the British Trade and Cultural Office; and senior executives of important foreign media organizations specially invited by the Executive Yuan's Government Information Office, including Nestor Ramon Insaurralde, Editor General of La Nación in Paraguay, Jorge Ernesto Montalba Rencoret, Director of the Chilean daily El Sur, and Mustapa bin Omar, Group Editor of Malaysia's Harian Metro.