President Tsai and Vice President and Mrs. Chen receive congratulations from foreign guests
President Tsai Ing-wen and Vice President Chen Chien-jen, on the morning of May 20 at the Presidential Office Building, met with heads of state, special envoys, and high-ranking government officials from diplomatic allies and friendly nations who were visiting Taiwan to attend the Inauguration Ceremony of the 14th-term President and Vice President of the Republic of China.
Starting from 9:50 a.m., foreign guests shook hands with President Tsai and Vice President Chen to extend their congratulations. The president and vice president in turn expressed their appreciation to the guests for travelling from afar to attend the inauguration. Also in attendance was Minister of Foreign Affairs David T. Lee (李大維).
More than 200 foreign dignitaries attended this event. Important individuals from diplomatic allies included Kingdom of Swaziland H. M. King Mswati III and the Queen, Republic of Kiribati President Taneti Maamau and Mrs. Maamau, Marshall Islands President Hilda C. Heine and her husband, Thomas Kijiner Jr., Republic of Nauru President Baron Waqa and Mrs. Waqa, Republic of Palau President Johnson Toribiong and Mrs. Toribiong, Solomon Islands Governor General Sir Frank Utu Ofagioro Kabui and Mrs. Kabui, St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Timothy Sylvester Harris, Tuvalu Prime Minister Enele Sosene Sopoaga and Mrs. Sopoaga, Burkina Faso Prime Minister Paul Kaba Thieba, Nicaraguan Vice President Moisés Omar Halleslevens Acevedo and Mrs. Halleslevens, Belizean Deputy Prime Minister Gaspar Vega and Mrs. Vega, St. Vincent and the Grenadines Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Louis Straker and Mrs. Straker, Guatemalan First Lady Hilda Patricia Marroquín Argueta de Morales, Haitian First Lady Pierrot Delienne, Panamanian First Lady Lorena Castillo de Varela, Honduran Supreme Court President Rolando Edgardo Argueta Pérez, Dominican Republic Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrés Navarro García, El Salvador Foreign Minister Hugo Roger Martínez Bonilla, Sao Tome and Principe Minister of Foreign Affairs Manuel Salvador dos Ramos, Saint Lucia Minister for Education Robert Lewis, and the Holy See's Apostolic Nuncio to Japan Archbishop Joseph Chennoth.
Non-diplomatic congratulatory delegations arrived from the United States, Japan, Singapore, Canada, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Europe. Distinguished guests included former US Trade Representative Ron Kirk, former US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, American Institute in Taiwan Chairman Raymond Burghardt, American Institute in Taiwan Taipei Office Director Kin Moy and Mrs. Moy, Stimson Center's East Asia program Director Alan Romberg, Japan Interchange Association Chairman Tadashi Imai, Japan Interchange Association Taipei Office Chief Representative Mikio Numata, Japan-ROC Diet Members' Consultative Council Chief Secretary Keiji Furuya, former Speaker of the Singapore Parliament Abdullah Bin Tarmugi, Singapore Trade Office in Taipei Trade Representative Simon Wong Wie Kuen, Canada-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group Chair Judy Sgro and her husband, Chief Economic Advisor to the Vice President of Indonesia Sofjan Wanandi, Indonesian Economic and Trade Office to Taipei Representative Arief Fadillah and Mrs. Fadillah, Malaysian Friendship and Trade Center in Taipei President Datuk Adeline Pung Shuk Ken and her husband, Manila Economic and Cultural Office Chairman Amadeo R. Perez Jr., European Parliament-Taiwan Friendship Group Vice Chairman Dominique Riquet, Australian House of Representatives Member Bronwyn Bishop, Austria-Taiwan Friendship Group Chairman Werner Amon, Federative Republic of Brazil Senator Magno Malta and Mrs. Malta, Chilean Parliament Member Alberto Robles, Czech Republic Vice Premier Alexandr Vondra, Denmark-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group Chairman Brian Mikkelsen and Mrs. Mikkelsen, former Estonian Interior Minister and Estonia-Taiwan Support Group Chairman Kalle Laanet, France-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group Deputy Chairmen Francois Loncle and Denis Jacquat, German parliamentarian and WLFD German Chapter President Axel Fischer, Hungarian former Minister of Education and Culture and former Minister of Environmental Protection and Water, parliamentarian Gábor Fodor, Senior Indian Bharatiya Janata Party Leader Advisor Vijay Jolly, Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Society Chairman John McGuinness and Mrs. McGuinness, Israeli parliamentarian Shelly Yachimovich, Italy-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group Vice President Guido Galperti and Mrs. Galperti, Italian House of Representatives Member Marco di Maio, Jordanian Lower House Health and Environment Committee Chairman Raed Hijazin, Korean National Assemblyman Kyoung-tae Cho, Chair of Latvian delegation to the Baltic Assembly and Vice Chairman of Latvia's Saeima Group for Cooperation with the Parliament of Taiwan Jānis Vuvāns, Myanmar and Taiwan Trade Cooperation Association Chairman Hla Maw Oo, former Dutch Prime Minister Andreas Van Agt, Liberal International Honorary President and President of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party Hans Van Baalen, and Nigerian Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs Chairman Monsurat Sunmonu, Congressman of the Republic of Peru Víctor Andrés García Belaúnde and Mrs. García, Portugal-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group Chairman Paulo Rios de Oliveira, former Slovakian Prime Minister Iveta Radicova, Republic of South Africa's President of the Inkatha Freedom Party Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi, Sri Lanka's United National Party and Western Province Coordinator Mr. Lasantha Gunawardana, former Thailand Foreign Minister Krasae Chanawongse, United Kingdom's British-Taiwanese All-Party Parliamentary Group Co-Chair Nigel Evans, and the Holy See's Secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, Archbishop Savio Tai-Fai Hon.