Vice President Wu Den-yih, who is leading a delegation from the ROC on a trip to Central American allies Dominican Republic and Belize, arrived at JFK International Airport in New York City on a transit stop at 1:30 p.m. on August 13 local time (1:30 a.m. on August 14 Taipei time). ROC Representative to the United States Jason C. Yuan (袁健生) and American Institute in Taiwan Chairman Raymond F. Burghardt boarded Vice President Wu's plane to welcome him and the accompanying delegation on their transit stop in the United States.
After completing the layover, the aircraft carrying the vice president and the delegation departed New York at 9:00 a.m. on August 15 (9:00 p.m. on August 15 Taipei time) to head to the Dominican Republic. Vice President Wu delivered remarks over the plane's public address system during this segment. He commented that the objective of this trip is to celebrate the inauguration of Dominican Republic President-elect Danilo Medina Sanchez, and to visit the ROC's diplomatic ally of Belize. The delegation made a transit stop in New York on the way to Central America, while on the return it will make a stopover in Los Angeles, he said.
Vice President Wu expressed his appreciation to the members of the delegation for their full cooperation, and thanked the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States for the thoughtful arrangements it has made. He also expressed his deepest gratitude for the warm reception he received from AIT Chairman Burghardt and Mrs. Burghardt.
Vice President Wu also mentioned that he attended an evening banquet with overseas compatriots on August 14 while in New York, adding that the enthusiasm he sensed at the gathering made a deep impression on him. In particular, he said that the longstanding support of the ROC and President Ma Ying-jeou by overseas compatriots in the New York area is an important force driving the continued progress of the ROC.
The vice president stated that the ROC has enjoyed widespread positive recognition within the international community in recent years for its competitiveness, and the number of international tourists to Taiwan continues to rise. Meanwhile, the issue of US beef imports to Taiwan has been resolved and an extraordinary session of the Legislative Yuan passed a capital gains tax bill in late July. Although many issues remain to be tackled in the future, such as the European debt crisis and global economic stagnation, the government is confident that it will be able to respond to these challenges. Vice President Wu said he hopes that the public will continue to demonstrate unity and work alongside the government to create a stronger economy.