President Tsai meets Guam Governor Eddie Calvo
On the afternoon of October 27, President Tsai Ing-wen met with a delegation led by Governor Eddie Calvo of the US Island of Guam. In addition to outlining the warm relations between Taiwan and Guam, the president also thanked Guam for taking concrete action in support of Taiwan's international participation. Referring to her upcoming visit to three Pacific island allies, the president also said she looked forward to seeing beautiful Guam on her way back to Taiwan.
In remarks, President Tsai first welcomed her visitors to Taiwan and thanked Governor Calvo for sending her a letter of congratulations upon her inauguration last year. "Taiwan is very pleased to have a friend like you," she said.
The president pointed out that Taiwan and Guam have many things in common. Both are located in the Western Pacific Ocean, and numerous academic studies have noted a similarity between the cultures of Guam's Chamorro people and Taiwan's indigenous peoples.
President Tsai noted that in the run-up to last year's Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture in Guam, a pair of seafarers travelled in traditional wooden canoes from the southern Taiwan port city of Kaohsiung to Guam to highlight the deep historic and cultural connections between the two islands. They invited a writer from Orchid Island's Tao tribe to join them on their journey, and when they stopped at Orchid Island, met with local indigenous people from the island to discuss cultural issues.
Noting that friendship between Taiwan and Guam extends beyond people-to-people ties, President Tsai thanked Guam for consistently supporting Taiwan's international participation, and said the people of Taiwan are very grateful. For example, the Guam Legislature has passed numerous resolutions over a period of many years in support of Taiwan's participation in the International Civil Aviation Organization and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
President Tsai mentioned that Guam is an important friend in the Western Pacific, and a very popular investment and tourist destination. For example, cumulative investments in Guam by Taiwanese firms now total US$150 million, and travelers from Taiwan make an average of 50,000 trips to Guam each year. That makes Taiwan the third biggest source of visitors to Guam behind Japan and Korea. In addition, many Taiwanese people go to romantic Guam for vacations, weddings, and honeymoons. The president expressed hope that friends from Guam will take advantage of the 90-day visa-free entry that Taiwan offers to come and see our country.
Because she was scheduled to make a transit stop in Guam on her way back to Taiwan after her upcoming visit to three of Taiwan's diplomatic allies in the Pacific, President Tsai said she was looking forward to meeting her guests again during the transit and seeing Guam.