Though the government says it is making last-ditch efforts to send President Chen Shui-bian (
"Liberal International has asked Madame Chen, the wife of 2001 Freedom Prize Laureate Chen Shui-bian, to accept the prize on his behalf," Hans van Baalen, vice president of Liberal International said yesterday. "We will try to find a venue soon where we can present the prize to her."
The organization's original plan was to present Chen with the award during the federation's annual meeting in Denmark between Tuesday and Thursday.
But in August, the Danish government refused to issue Chen a visa on the grounds that EU member states have established an unofficial rule that the five most important political figures in Taiwan -- the president, vice president, premier, foreign minister and defense minister -- cannot be issued visas even if they are applying for one for private travel.
In a letter dated July 19, Dutch foreign minister Jozias van Aartsen said his government would stick to the European line. France has also declined to grant Chen a visa, sources said.
France, however, has made a conditional offer of a visa to Chen's wife Wu Shu-chen (
The visa would be subject to the conditions that Wu's travel be limited to the city in which the ceremony is to be held -- believed to be Strasbourg -- that she not travel to Paris and that she not make any public remarks.
The local Chinese-language media reported yesterday that Wu had already begun to prepare for the trip to Europe.
Sources inside the Presidential Office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, however, remained tight-lipped, saying that it remained their priority to pursue means by which Chen could receive his prize in person.
Liberal International, a London-based association of major liberal parties from more than 60 countries, awarded this year's Prize for Freedom to Chen in recognition of his contribution to Taiwan's struggle for freedom and democracy and his personal dedication to human rights and democracy.
The sensitivity of the issue is believed to be linked to the current visit to Europe by Chinese Vice President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤), the leading contender to succeed Chinese President Jiang Zemin (江澤民) during changes in the Chinese leadership slated for next year.
Van Baalen, who is also a Dutch parliamentarian, said he had challenged the Dutch foreign minister about the EU visa policy concerning Taiwanese politicians during the foreign ministry's new fiscal year budgetary debate last week.
"I asked my government to adopt the US' visa policy concerning Taiwan and urged EU member states to review the current visa policy which makes it impossible for Chen ... to pay private visits to the EU," Van Baalen said.
Van Baalen said the Dutch foreign minister promised the Dutch parliament that he would discuss the proposition with his European colleagues in the EU General Affairs Council.
"This is a small success, but anyway it is a move in the right direction. We will still have a long way to go," he added.
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