At the request of President Chen Shui-bian (
The meeting was originally scheduled for last night in Los Angeles. Representatives from both the Democrat and Republican parties had been invited to meet Chen, who stopped in Los Angeles on his way to the Dominican Republic.
In a phone interview with the Taipei Times, Amos Hochstein, an aid to Gejdenson, said that the congressman respected Chen's wish to cancel the meeting.
PHOTO: TONY K. YAO, LIBERTY TIMES
"Gejdenson is not planning to visit President Chen in the Westing Long Beach Hotel, either," Hochstein said.
In Taiwan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs downplayed the cancelled meeting, telling reporters that Chen's 16-hour layover in Los Angeles was too brief for special meetings.
"President Chen will spend most of his time in the hotel," said Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Wu Tzu-dan (
The cancellation comes in the wake of strong protests from China over Chen's layover in the US.
China warned that the US decision to issue Chen a visa for the layover would severely damage US-China relations.
US administrative officials had played down China's protests, saying that provisions had been made for Chen's layover "for the safety and convenience of the traveler."
Officials said also assured China by saying that Chen would not meet with any administrative officials.
A ranking member of the House International Relations Committee, Gejdenson had said in a statement on Saturday that he was expecting to attend a private meeting between Chen and other US lawmakers.
"I do not believe that the State Department will attempt to shut off the dialogue," Gejdenson said.
However, US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said last Thursday that the Clinton administration sees Chen's visit as an overnight layover only, and discouraged him from any participation in public events.
A meeting between President Chen and US lawmakers would have been considered a "public event," in violation of the mutual understanding of what it meant by the "transit" of high level Taiwanese officials, US officials said.
Congressional sources said that the US State Department had tried to persuade lawmakers not to meet President Chen, but most of the congressmen turned a cold shoulder to the administration.
However, the US State Department kept its pressure up on Taiwan, telling Chen that he might not be able to visit the US again if he met with the lawmakers.
Some 10 congressmen were supposed to attend Gejdenson's welcoming party in Los Angeles. Members from the House of Representatives included Dana Rohrabacher, Christopher Cox, Howard Berman, Nancy Pelosi, Brad Sherman, Sherod Brown, Robert Andrews, Robert Wexler, Albert Russell Wynn and David Wu, who emigrated from Taiwan to the US as a seven-year-old.
Rohrabacher and Wu's office said that the congressmen understood the sensitivity of the meeting and respected Chen's decision, but were still eager to talk with him.
Rohrabacher later told reporters that she would speak with Chen at his hotel.
Some sources, however, said that lawmakers were upset and angry with the interference of the Clinton administration, adding that they might introduce a bill on Capitol Hill later to challenge the strict rules now imposed by the administration on visiting high-level Taiwanese officials.
Boucher said earlier that Chen would be greeted as a courtesy by Richard Bush, Chairman of American Institute in Taiwan.
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