Shih conveyed messages from president at APEC

As the APEC summit in Sydney concluded yesterday, Taiwan's special envoy Stan Shih (施振榮) said he had completed his task of conveying messages from President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to "certain leaders."

"I hope I have lived up to [President's Chen's] expectations," Shih told a press conference on the last day of his stay in Australia.

"This is the first time I have participated in a very political event and it was like a load off my shoulders when the summit was over," he said.

Shih declined to reveal what messages Chen wanted him to convey and to whom.

However, Shih said that he had asked US President George W. Bush for his support of Taiwan's Digital Opportunity Center (ADOC) 2.0 project to eliminate the digital divide among APEC countries.

"The rest of our conversation concerned what President Chen entrusted me express to President Bush alone, so I will withhold this from the public," he said.

Shih declined to answer a question on whether he and Bush had touched on the nation's planned referendum on whether to apply for UN membership under the name "Taiwan."

The Acer Group founder also delivered Chen's best wishes to Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤).

"I think he felt [the sincerity]," Shih said.

After a cordial chat with Hu on Saturday, the two yesterday maintained good interaction and discussed cross-strait issues such as the protection of the interests of Taiwanese businesspeople in China, the opening of Taiwan to Chinese tourists and cross-strait flights, Shih told reporters.

Hu has separately lashed out at Taiwan's referendum proposal, saying that applying to the UN under the name "Taiwan" is equivalent to declaring de jure independence.

"Since he knows I'm from the business world, Hu did not bring up political issues," Shih said.

Shih said he hoped that his presence at the meeting as Chen's special envoy would not lead China to take actions against Acer's operations there, adding that he had no political aspirations and had retired from the company.

Taiwanese business and entertainment figures who publicly express support for the Democratic Progressive Party have experienced difficulties entering the Chinese market.

One example is pop diva Chang Hui-mei (張惠妹), known as A-mei, who was blocked from performing in China for a long time after she sang the national anthem at Chen's inauguration ceremony in 2004.

Shih also discussed business with Mexican President Felipe Calderon at the summit. Calderon encouraged Taiwan to increase its investment in Mexico.

As most Taiwanese businesses are small or medium in scale, investing in Mexico is difficult compared with investing in China because of cultural and language differences, Shih said.

The two agreed both governments should offer more incentives for investment, he said.

Speaking about the concrete benefits this year's APEC had achieved for Taiwan, Shih said the nation's participation in the body increased through the introduction of the ADOC 2.0 and Green APEC Opportunity initiatives.

The rare chance to meet major trading partners also helps promote political relations with them, he said.