Ma began his tour Aug. 11 with a visit to Haiti after a transit stop in New York. He also visited three other Caribbean allies — St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and St. Kitts and Nevis — and Paraguay in South America, where he attended the inauguration of Paraguayan President Horacio Cartes.
He returned to Taiwan via Los Angeles early Wednesday.
The president said after arriving at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport that the trip produced tangible results in five areas, the first of which was consolidating Taiwan’s relations with its diplomatic allies.
During the visit, Ma noted, he signed three joint communiques respectively with St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and St. Kitts and Nevis, a joint declaration with Haiti, and an extradition treaty with St. Kitts and Nevis.
The second achievement was advancing Taiwan’s cooperation projects with the allies in areas such as agriculture, health care, science and technology, infrastructure development and education, Ma said.
The third milestone, Ma said, was visiting Haiti, making him the first Republic of China (Taiwan) president to visit the Caribbean nation since the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1956.
The other two positive developments, according to the president, were “transit diplomacy” and “connecting with expatriates.” Ma said he met or talked over the phone with 12 administration officials and members of Congress during his transit stops in the United States, and his contacts with Taiwanese expatriates in New York, Los Angeles and Paraguay gave them a better understanding of the current situation in Taiwan.
The president was originally scheduled to return home Thursday, but he decided to cut short the trip due to Tropical Storm Trami.
