President Ma Ying-jeou will speak via live video feed at a panel discussion hosted by Stanford University's Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law next week. That’s the word from the Presidential Office on Friday.
Ma's speech will focus on the firm Taiwan-U.S. partnership and Taiwan's role in regional security, the office said in a statement. After the speech, Ma will take questions from participants.
But there is media speculation that the videoconference has been arranged to compete with a speech that chairwoman of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party, Tsai Ing-wen, is set to give the same week. Tsai will also be in the US at the time. She will deliver her address at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in the U.S. on June 4.
Foreign Minister David Lin said Friday that speculation about politically-motivated timing is untrue. Lin said that arrangements for the event had been made long ago and have nothing to do with Tsai's U.S. visit.
This will be the president’s sixth videoconference with opinion leaders in the United States.