Tsai receives warm welcome in San Francisco

Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday arrived in San Francisco, receiving a warm welcome from hundreds of overseas Taiwanese as she launched a week-long visit.

Accompanied by Representative to the US Alexander Yui (俞大?), and head of Taiwan’s San Francisco office Wu Chih-hsiang (伍志翔), Tsai arrived at her hotel, waving, smiling and giving high-fives to Taiwanese compatriots amid cheers of “Taiwan’s democracy involves you and me” to welcome her to the San Francisco Bay Area.

It is Tsai’s first visit to the US since she left office in May 2024 after serving two four-year terms as president.

Former president Tsai Ing-wen, center, is welcomed with flowers upon arriving at a hotel in the San Francisco Bay Area on Monday.

Photo: CNA

Tsai is today to deliver the opening keynote speech at the Stanford Conference on Technology and National Security.

The Stanford Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation announced the event on LinkedIn last week, saying it was “deeply honored” to welcome Tsai as the opening keynote speaker.

The address is one of the few events on Tsai’s itinerary that her office has said would be open to the public.

According to the Stanford DEFCON Technology and National Security Student Network, one of the organizers’ of the conference, all registration slots have been filled.

Tsai tomorrow is to attend a forum on democracy, resilience and global security jointly organized by the Hoover Institution’s Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific Region program and Stanford in Government, the university’s oldest and largest nonpartisan public service and policy organization. The forum would be open only to Stanford faculty and students.

In a Facebook post featuring photographs of people greeting the former president, Tsai expressed her gratitude for their warm welcome and support for Taiwan.

“In the coming days, I will continue to seize every opportunity to interact with more friends and help Taiwan make more friends,” she said. “Let’s continue to work hard together.”

Chuang Wen-kuan (莊文冠), one of the overseas Taiwanese who greeted Tsai at the hotel, said he hoped her visit would help the world gain a better understanding of Taiwan.

In 2015, Tsai visited Stanford University while chairwoman of the Democratic Progressive Party and the party’s presidential candidate. During that trip, she attended a Taiwan-US innovation and technology cooperation forum and delivered a speech.

During her presidency and on subsequent overseas trips, Tsai arranged face-to-face exchanges with overseas students and young people. Many students and technology experts in the Bay Area said they hoped to have an opportunity to meet her.