Chen sends his condolences to the US

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) has sent his condolences to the US on behalf of Taiwan's government and people for the crash of the space shuttle Columbia, Minister of Foreign Affairs Eugene Chien (簡又新) said yesterday.

He said yesterday that the ministry had passed the president's and his own sympathies to US President George W. Bush and US Secretary of State Colin Powell through Taipei's de facto embassy in the US after the accident.

The ministry also expressed its concerns to Pamela Slutz, the acting director of the American Institute in Taiwan in Taipei.

In the US, Taiwan's representative, Chen Chien-jen (程建人), passed on his condolences to Therese Shaheen, the director of the AIT in Washington.

Feng Wei-chang (馮維彰), representative of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Houston, sent a letter of regret on behalf of the government to Texas Governor Rick Perry and four congressmen.

He said in the letter that the people of Taiwan felt the pain of the Americans and that he expected the US to prosper despite the crisis.