16th-term President and Vice President receive congratulations from foreign guests
President Lai Ching-te, the first lady, and Vice President Bi-khim Hsiao, on the morning of May 20 at the Presidential Office 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 16th-term President and Vice President of the Republic of China.
Starting from 9:55 a.m., foreign guests shook hands with President Lai, the first lady, and Vice President Hsiao to extend their congratulations. The president and vice president in turn expressed their appreciation to the guests for traveling from afar to attend the inauguration. Also in attendance were Secretary-General to the President Pan Men-an (潘孟安) and Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍).
Approximately 200 foreign dignitaries attended this event. Important individuals from diplomatic allies included King Mswati III and Inkhosikati (Queen) of the Kingdom of Eswatini, President of the Republic of the Marshall Islands Hilda C. Heine and her husband, President of the Republic of Palau Surangel S. Whipps, Jr. and his wife, President Santiago Peña Palacios of the Republic of Paraguay, Prime Minister John Briceño of Belize, Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre of Saint Lucia, Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Ralph Gonsalves and his wife, Prime Minister of Tuvalu Feleti Teo and his wife, Deputy Prime Minister Geoffrey Hanley of St. Christopher and Nevis, Minister of Foreign Affairs Carlos Ramiro Martínez of the Republic of Guatemala, papal envoy Archbishop Charles John Brown, and Ambassador Roudy Stanley Penn of the Republic of Haiti.
In addition to delegations from diplomatic allies such as the Kingdom of Eswatini, delegations who came to offer their congratulations included those from Somaliland, the United States, Japan, Singapore, Australia, Canada, the Republic of Korea, the European Parliament, and European countries including France, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Distinguished guests included: First Deputy Speaker of the House of Elders of Somaliland Said Jama Ali, former US National Economic Council Director Brian Deese, former US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution Richard Bush, American Institute in Taiwan Chairperson Laura Rosenberger, the 70th US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, Japanese House of Representatives Member and Japan-ROC Diet Members’ Consultative Council Chairman Furuya Keiji, Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association President Tanizaki Yasuaki, wife of late Prime Minister Abe Shinzo of Japan Abe Akie, former Speaker of the Parliament of Singapore Abdullah Tarmugi, Vice Chair of the European People’s Party Group and Vice-chair of the European Parliament Subcommittee on Security and Defence Rasa Juknevičienė, Member of the European Parliament and former Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius of Lithuania, Senator Raff Ciccone of Australia, Chair of the Taiwan-Canada Parliamentary Friendship Group and Chair of the Standing Committee on International Trade Judy Sgro, Vice Chairman of the French Senate’s Taiwan Friendship Group Rachid Temal, member of the German Bundestag and German-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group Chairman Klaus-Peter Willsch, Senate Vice-Presidents Gian Marco Centinaio and Licia Ronzulli of the Italian Republic, President of the Korea-Taiwan Parliamentarian Friendship Association and Korean National Assembly Member Cho Kyoung Tae, former President Dalia Grybauskaitė of Lithuania, Chairman of the Slovak-Taiwanese Parliamentary Friendship Group Ondrej Dostál, Member of the Swedish Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs Margareta Cederfelt, Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords and Co-Chair of the British-Taiwanese All-Party Parliamentary Group Lord Rogan, and former Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Ukrainian Parliament Hanna Hopko. Also in attendance at the event were Dean of the Diplomatic Corps and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Ambassador Andrea Clare Bowman and other members of the foreign diplomatic corps in Taiwan.