Taiwanese group gets indoor invite to Trump's swearing-in livestream

Washington, Jan. 20 (CNA) Taiwan's eight-member legislative delegation to the inauguration of United States President-elect Donald Trump has received invitations to watch the livestream of the event in Capital One Arena, one of the lawmakers said Monday.

Ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) told CNA that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) and Taiwan's representative office to the U.S. secured four tickets to watch the inauguration livestream in a VIP room in the arena.

Those four tickets will go the leader of the delegation, Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), the opposition Kuomintang's (KMT) Ko Chih-en (柯志恩), Chen Gau-tzu (陳昭姿) of the smaller opposition Taiwan People's Party, and himself, Wang said.

The other four lawmakers in the delegation, Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) and Kuo Yu-ching (郭昱晴) of the DPP and Lee Yen-hsiu (李彥秀) and Ko Ju-chun (葛如鈞) of the KMT, will be watching the livestream inside the arena, Wang said.

In a Facebook post, Wang also posted a group photograph showing himself and his fellow lawmakers riding on the Washington Metro system heading to the arena for the event.

Due to sub-zero temperatures forecast for Washington on Monday, Trump's inauguration ceremony was moved to inside the Capitol Rotunda instead of on the steps of the Capitol, leading to a significant reduction of the number of guests at the ceremony.

Capital One Arena in downtown Washington, which can accommodate around 20,000 people, will be open Monday for people to watch a livestream of the swearing-in ceremony and inaugural address, Trump said Friday.

MOFA said last week that the Capitol Rotunda will accommodate only a limited number of attendees, mainly members of Congress, senior government officials and Trump's family.

Therefore, many international guests, including the Taiwan delegation, would not be able to attend the inauguration ceremony, MOFA said.