Thousands of people gathered in Boston’s Chinatown on Saturday, local time, to greet President Ma Ying-jeou. Ma is the first president of the Republic of China to visit the city while in office.
The Republic of China (ROC) is the official name of Taiwan.
President Ma is en route to the Caribbean and Central America as part of his 11th overseas trip since taking office in 2008. He was greeted at the airport by the chairman of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Raymond Burghardt and Taiwan’s representative to the United States Shen Lyu-shun.
AIT oversees the United States’ ties with Taiwan in the absence of official diplomatic relations.
President Ma visited his alma mater, Harvard University, where he was scheduled to give a speech.
After he concludes his stopover in Boston, Ma will fly to three of the ROC’s allies: the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Nicaragua. He is slated to return to Taiwan on July 18 after a transit stop in Los Angeles.
Ma last visited Harvard nine years ago as mayor of Taipei and chairman of the ruling party – the Kuomintang (KMT).