President set to visit Central America twice

According to the president's travel plan, he will depart for a week-long Central America visit in late May that will take him to El Salvador to attend the inauguration of President-elect Mauricio Funes and to several of Taiwan's other allies in the region.

In July, the sources said, Ma is scheduled to visit Panama for three to four days, mainly to attend the inauguration of that country's next president.

Ma made his first overseas tour as Taiwan's head of state last August when he visited the Dominican Republic and Paraguay. For that trip, Ma used a regularly scheduled commercial flight to the United States, from where he flew to Central America via chartered plane.

For the forthcoming two visits, the sources said, the president will fly on chartered flights on the entire journeys, with no decision yet made on which carrier will be contracted to provide the flights.

On customary transit stops in the United States, the sources went on, safety, convenience and comfort will remain the top guiding principles in all relevant arrangements.

Central and South America and the Caribbean are Taiwan's diplomatic stronghold, with many of its 23 diplomatic allies located there.

Meanwhile, the sources went on, Ma is also likely to attend a summit meeting between the leaders of Taiwan and its South Pacific allies to be held in August or September in the Solomon Islands.

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