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First lady to travel to Germany

First lady Wu Shu-chen (吳淑珍) will visit Germany next month for cultural activities and possibly official meetings with politicians, Presidential Office Deputy Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said yesterday.

"Wu has been invited by the National Palace Museum to attend its overseas exhibition in Germany," Wu said. "The details of her trip are still being finalized."

He said both countries' literary and intellectual circles were eagerly awaiting the opening of the exhibition of hundreds of artefacts from the National Palace Museum.

However, he said it would be inappropriate to publicized the complete schedule of the first lady's visit for the moment in case China tries to interfere with her trip.

Wu Shu-chen will lead a delegation comprising government cultural officials, including the National Palace Museum Director Tu Cheng-sheng (杜正勝) that will leave on July 15 unless officials arrange for her to visit another country, in which case she will leave on July 13. The exhibition will open on July 18.

Joseph Wu refused to reveal whether the first lady will go to any other countries with which Taiwan has no diplomatic relations.

The exhibition, entitled "Treasures of the Sons of Heaven: the imperial collection from the National Palace Museum, Taipei," has taken the museum and German government's cultural department nearly 10 years to arrange.

The exhibition was finalized last year after the German legislature passed a law to ensuring the collection would be protected.

According the museum, the exhibition will be held in Berlin's Altes Museum from July to October and then move to Bonn from November to February.

It will be Wu Shu-chen's fifth foreign tour since President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) took office.

She went on holiday to Japan twice in 2000 and led a delegation to France the following year to accept the 2001 Prize for Freedom awarded by Liberal International on behalf of her husband.

During her European trip, Wu also met with the leaders of the Czech Republic in Prague.

Last year, Wu made a historic trip to the US and gave speeches at New York City and Washington.

Council for Cultural Affairs Chairwoman Tchen Yu-chiou (陳郁秀) is expected to visit the Czech Republic early next month before flying to Berlin to join the first lady's delegation.
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