While some government watchdogs criticize the trip - organized by a lobbyist and reportedly paid for by the Taiwanese government - as an unneeded junket, the Utah lawmakers defended it as a way to educate themselves about how another government deals with issues similar to those faced in Utah.

"They have different problems, but similar problems," Valentine said this week, after returning from the 11-day trip. "It's something you can't read about; you have to be on the ground to see."

The Senate president provided The Salt Lake Tribune with copies of the trip itinerary and other documents he collected while in Taiwan and during a side trip to Vietnam. The Vietnam trip was paid for by the lawmakers, they said.

Lobbyist Miles "Cap" Ferry, who organized this trip, had previously declined to provide an itinerary, saying that he didn't have one, adding, "I don't think it's any of your business." Ferry, a Republican former Senate president, has organized similar trips in the past for legislative leaders. Democrats reportedly have never been invited.

The eight lawmakers and their spouses, joined by Ferry and his wife - and fellow lobbyist - Sue Ferry, did get in some shopping on the trip, visiting a flower market and a handicraft center. But the entourage also did some official work, meeting with education leaders, economic development officials and city leaders.

They came back with a pledge to enhance a teacher exchange with Taiwan and temporarily send 50 Utahns there to teach English. Utah already has a teacher exchange program with China.

Lawmakers contacted said they didn't talk legislation with the Ferrys and said they attempted to stay away from discussing Taiwan's efforts toward independence. Under it's "one China" policy, the U.S. government does not officially recognize Taiwan as a nation independent from China.

The documents provided by Valentine, though, do show the delegation attended some type of briefing about relations with China.

Valentine - who came back with a foot-high stack of brochures, books, business cards, even a coffee table book on traditional Taiwanese arts - said the trip was worthwhile because lawmakers got to see how a foreign government operates.

Anthony Musci, who heads Common Cause of Utah, a government watchdog group, still questions the value of the trip for lawmakers' constituents.

"I don't have a clue whether it was worthwhile, because they haven't spelled out why it was necessary," Musci said. "It ends up sounding like a junket and I think people are skeptical of those sorts of trips."

tburr@sltrib.com