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Chen works on goodwill in New York

President Chen Shui-bian yesterday waves to the crowd after visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. CHU YU-PING, TAIPEI TIMES

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) awoke Tuesday morning in the city that never sleeps, ready to be a part of it, the first full day of his historic trip to the Big Apple, New York, New York.

He was part statesman, part tourist, part investment tout. But there was little doubt about it: The political reality of his mission was to engender as much goodwill as possible in a short visit, officially just a layover on Chen's way to Latin America.

Chen started the day with a half-hour meeting at his hotel with New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani -- old chums since Chen's days as the mayor of Taipei. Giuliani later spent a good part of his daily news conference praising Chen and Taiwan.

"Taiwan is a remarkable country," Giuliani told the New York press corps. "It's a great and strong ally of the United States and an outpost of democracy."

Giuliani said he got the approval of the US State Department for the meeting with Chen beforehand. The department said "it was a good thing to do," he said.

While Giuliani said that economic ties between New York City and Taiwan were a main topic of discussion, the mayor also indicated that Taiwan's political situation was on the agenda. But he refused to go into further detail.

"The political dimension was just ideas that we exchanged and that should remain between us," Giuliani said.

The New York mayor said of Chen: "I have great respect for him. I think he was a fine mayor and is doing a very good job [as president]," he said.

Giuliani appeared to take personally the fact that the first US baseball game a visiting Taiwan president will see will be in Houston, where Chen will stop off en route back home on June 2 after a five-nation Latin American tour.

"We invited him to see a real baseball game in the baseball capital of the world, Yankee Stadium," he said. Giuliani also gave Chen several New York Yankees caps, particularly for when he sees the Houston game.

Later in the day, Chen and his entourage visited the New York Stock Exchange and toured the world-renowned Metropolitan Museum of Art, in-between meetings with US business leaders and representatives of the Taiwanese-American community.

One sour note in the day's activities came when first lady Wu Shu-chen (吳淑珍) was stricken by a stomach ailment after a morning shopping spree. She was treated by doctors accompanying the first couple, and was said to be feeling better in the afternoon.

Former US vice president Dan Quayle, who served alongside former president George Bush, was the highest-level former US official to meet with Chen.

Quayle attended a luncheon for senior US business executives which Chen hosted at the Waldorf-Astoria, where Chen is staying.

"I'm just here as a private citizen," Quayle told reporters after the lunch. "We've visited Taiwan a number of times, I've met with President Chen in Taipei, and I was here as his guest to welcome him."

Nevertheless, Quayle lent his support to an idea floated Monday night that the US House of Representatives should invite Chen to visit Washington and the House next year.

"I think Congress should certainly consider [the visit]," Quayle said. "We would have no problems with what Congress does to advance that idea."

Prominent Representatives Benjamin Gilman and Tom Lantos, both of the House International Relations Committee, proposed the invitation idea during a dinner meeting Monday night between Chen and some 20 representatives.

Tuesday's lunch included dozens of CEOs and other top US corporate executives from the finance, securities and technology sectors -- from companies such as Citicorp, Fidelity Investments and Merrill Lynch.

According to sources, Chen expressed the hope that the financial executives could go to Taiwan to help fix the country's financial mess and speed up bank reform. Chen also said that Taiwan's high-tech industry must pursue biotechnology.

The US executives were also concerned over Taiwan's political problems, DPP legislator Parris Chang (張旭成) said.

"They asked us about how we will deal with relations with China in the months to come," he said.

"Chen said he previously thought that he could be a trouble-maker, causing real bad relations with China," Chang said. "But now he has done very well, and he has stated that he will remain conciliatory and try to encourage China to revive dialogue."

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