President Chen Shui-bian's (
The conference was originally scheduled to be held at the association's club room at UN headquarters, but, under pressure from China and the UN Secretariat, it was relocated to the UN Plaza Hotel.
This setback embodied the bullying Taiwan has endured at the hands of Beijing with the help of the UN. It also made Chen's appeal to join the UN more powerful and more legitimate.
More than 30 reporters attended the conference, including journalists from France, Britain, Japan, the US, Korea and Costa Rica.
The discussion was occasionally barbed, and there were questions from CNN, the Mainichi Daily News, the Associated Press, Reuters, the Financial Times, the New York Sun and China's People's Daily.
The event was widely reported and helped to shape opinion and solicit sympathy and support.
Within the week, 39 reports on the videoconference appeared in the international media.
Even CNN, which normally does not air political advertisements, broadcast footage of Chen's videoconference as well as a promotional video provided by the Government Information Office.
Most importantly, the network pointed out in its program Diplomatic License that blocking Taiwan from the UN was equivalent to the diplomatic segregation of Taiwanese people and that its participation in the UN was not an attempt to replace China or to challenge its status or representation in the UN.
The comments certainly got to the heart of the issue.
The attendance and extensive coverage given by the international media proved that the pan-blue camp's Bulletgate propaganda and "Taiwan's Hitler" representation of Chen did not work.
Not a single US media organization swallowed it. American mainstream media, such as CNN, the Washington Times, the New York Sun, the Baltimore Sun and the Detroit Free Press, also respectfully addressed Chen as president.
Americans seemed to have thrown literature promoting the "Bulletgate" conspiracy theory into the trash.
The ridiculous comparison of Chen to Adolf Hitler seems to have been treated with equal contempt. Otherwise, the media would not have reported Chen's talk as widely.
The pan-blue camp has not admitted defeat in the presidential election and has accused Chen of vote-rigging and staging the assassination attempt he suffered.
It failed to overthrow Chen's government, and so launched demonstrations from election day all the way until Chen's inauguration day two months later.
Now the opposition has set up an extraordinary task force to investigate the "truth" behind the shooting.
But surveys show that the public do not believe or support what the pan-blue camp is claiming.
The public is actually quite fed up with the opposition and will express their dissatisfaction in the legislative elections. Neither the wisdom nor the critical faculties of the public should be underestimated or manipulated.
Beijing tried to be obstructive, but in the end it enhanced Taiwan's presence in the international media. The pan-blue camp's attempt to boycott the ruling party, however, will lead to its own destruction. This is probably another blessing.
Chin Heng-wei is editor-in-chief of Contemporary Monthly magazine.
Translated by Jennie Shih
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