President Chen departs on state visits

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) leaves for a two-week tour of Central America and Africa today, his first state visit since taking office in May.

Chen's arduous journey across two continents comes at a time when the new government is faced with a downturn in the stock market and a battle with lawmakers over the upcoming review of the government's budget next month.

Critics of the new government say Chen's trip is untimely given the uncertainties over whether Premier Tang Fei (唐飛), who was recently re-hospitalized for chronic fatigue, is well enough to govern during his absence.

The new government has tried to address these concerns by equipping the plane that will be carrying Chen with a satellite communications system and making sure that Chen is never far from a telephone link between Taiwan and any country on his itinerary. Chen will have a satellite phone available for use even in remote areas in West Africa.

Chen has said that he will remain the commander-in-chief of the armed forces during his tour abroad and repeatedly emphasized he has direct lines to the Presidential Office, Tang Fei, the Ministry of National Defense and the chief of the general staff.

Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) is expected to take over Chen's public engagements while he is away.

Chen's first stop is the Dominican Republic via Los Angeles, where he will attend the inauguration of the country's new president, Hipolito Mejia, before moving on to Nicaragua and Costa Rica.

During his overnight transit in Los Angeles, Chen is not scheduled to attend any public event and although several US congressmen have expressed the desire to meet with the president, the US State Department has made it clear than no such meeting would be allowed to take place.

In the Dominican Republic, Chen is to attend a state dinner along with 20 other heads-of-state on Aug. 15 before the inauguration the next day.

His 200-plus delegation will then fly to Nicaragua where, in what many considered to be a diplomatic gaffe last week, the country's foreign minister publicly said he would remind Chen on his arrival to make good on the previous government's promise of US$100 million in aid.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Hung-mao (田弘茂) has tried to dispel speculation that the new government is returning to the KMT's practice of "money diplomacy," by saying that Chen will not sign any new economic aid packages during his visits.

"If what the foreign minister [of Nicaragua] reportedly said is true, then it's highly inappropriate ... we will use this opportunity to understand what this was all about," Tien said last week.

Chen is scheduled to give a speech in the Nicaraguan parliament during his one-night stay there and the country's president, Arnoldo Aleman, will be given a lift by Chen for the three-hour flight from Santo Domingo to Managua.

In Costa Rica, Chen will preside over a meeting of representatives from Taiwan's embassies and representative offices in the Central and South America region before embarking on the trans-Atlantic flight to Africa.

His chartered Boeing 747 flight is to arrive in Gambia on Aug. 20 to begin the Africa leg of his tour.

Chen is spending one night in Banjul, Gambia's capital, before flying to Burkina Faso, where he is to give a speech in front of parliament.

His last stop is in Chad, before flying back to Taiwan via Dubai. Chen is scheduled to return to Taiwan and hold a press conference on the morning of Aug. 26.