Taiwan donating supplies to Marshall Islands: Ma

At the end of their meeting, they jointly hosted a tree planting ceremony in which Ma planted a sapling to highlight the importance of forestation, energy conservation and carbon reduction in the current fight against global warming.

Ma departed Taipei on the South Pacific trip late Sunday and arrived in the Marshall Island at 9 a.m. Monday local time after a brief refueling stop in the U.S. territory of Guam. Guam acting Governor Michael W. Cruz was originally scheduled to greet Ma at the airport, but he did not show up, citing personal health reasons.

On Ma's arrival in the Marshall Islands, he was accorded full military honors at a welcome ceremony presided over by Zedkaia.

Addressing the ceremony, Ma said the two countries have forged close cooperation in various fields, including agriculture, health care, science and technology, education and fishery, since they established diplomatic ties 12 years ago.

Noting that both Taiwan and the Marshall Islands are democratic countries that uphold freedom and peace as core values, Ma said he hopes the two countries will continue to expand and deepen cooperation based on the current foundation.

The Marshall Islands is the first leg of Ma's current seven-day diplomatic trip that will also take him to Taiwan's five other diplomatic allies in the Pacific Ocean -- Kiribati, Tuvalu, Nauru, the Solomon Islands and Palau.

It is Ma's first trip to the South Pacific since assuming office in May 2008. His previous four trips as the ROC head of state all took him to Latin America and the Caribbean.

Ma and his entourage wrapped up their Marshall Islands visit and departed at 2: 30 p.m. local time on a flight to Kiribati on the second leg of the packed diplomatic tour.

1|2

PrintEmail

Write a Comment

Terms

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos
 Respond to this email