Taipei, April 25 (CNA) Former United States national security adviser and outspoken China hawk John Bolton will arrive in Taiwan on Wednesday for a week-long trip during which he will speak at two events, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said Tuesday.
Bolton was invited by two pro-Taiwan independence NGOs, the World Taiwanese Congress (WTC) and Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA), to speak at the WTC annual meeting on Saturday and FAPA's 40th anniversary banquet on Monday.
Calling Bolton a long-time friend of Taiwan, MOFA said in a press release that it would offer all necessary assistance to facilitate the former U.S. official's seven-day stay in Taipei that will conclude on May 2.
Bolton will deliver a speech titled "Maintaining long-term peace and security for Taiwan" at the WTC's Global Taiwan National Affairs Symposium, an annual meeting focused on discussing Taiwan's future, according to WTC Head Susan Chang (程韻如).
"Bolton gave a talk virtually at the WTC gathering last year and his arguments resonated with many of us. He also said he would like to visit Taiwan again. With the easing of the COVID-19 pandemic, we invited him to attend the event this year," Chang told CNA by telephone Tuesday.
At the FAPA banquet, Bolton is expected to meet with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Vice President Lai Ching-te (賴清德), and Robert Tsao (曹興誠), founder of contract chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC), who are also invited to the event, according to FAPA's office in Taipei.
A foreign policy hawk and strong backer of U.S. military intervention around the globe, Bolton has long advocated for a hard line on China and U.S. recognition of Taiwan as a sovereign nation.
Prior to serving as a U.S. national security adviser under President Donald Trump from April 2018 to September 2019, he was a U.S. ambassador to the United Nations from 2005 to 2006.
As a foreign policy adviser to former President George W. Bush, he was also a major supporter of the Iraq war in 2003 and has continued to defend the U.S. invasion of Iraq that led to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people.
In 2019, he became the first U.S. national security chief to meet with his Taiwanese counterpart since the two countries severed formal ties in 1979.
He met with then-National Security Council Secretary General David Lee (李大維) in Washington D.C., leading to a strong protest from China that sees Taiwan as part of its territory.
Bolton said in January that he might run for the Republican Party's nomination for president against Trump, telling the New York Post that "Trump's support within the party itself is in terminal decline."
He has not officially announced his candidacy, however.
