Screen legend Sir Sean Connery will not take part in the human-chain rally next week, Connery's public relations agent said yesterday.
"Sean Connery is not now nor was he ever planning a trip to Taiwan or Japan," Nancy Seltzer, head of California-based Nancy Seltzer and Associates, told the Taipei Times in an e-mailed statement.
Seltzer said that the James Bond star and Scottish independence activist was booked to appear at the Oscars the day after the human-chain rally took place and will be in the US prior to the Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles.
"We have no idea where this rumor got started, it is a complete mystery," Seltzer said in the statement.
On Thursday a main organizer of the human-chain rally said that Connery was considering taking part in the event -- which will protest China's missile threat against Taiwan -- and would announce his decision at a press conference in Tokyo on Thursday.
Peter Wang (王獻極), deputy executive director of the Hand-in-Hand Rally, said that the star was approached by Presidential Office officials after meeting President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) at Panama's centenary celebrations last November.
Seltzer's office, however, contradicted Wang, saying that while Chen and Connery did meet in Panama, at no time was the human-chain rally mentioned.
The office said that Connery was contacted after the Panama event by the Taiwan consulate, which extended an invitation from Chen to visit Taiwan as the president's guest. Connery's schedule could not permit a visit, said the office, which also represents singer Whitney Houston and Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman.
A member of the rally organizing team said that she was unaware that Connery was not coming to Taiwan.
"One thing for sure that we know, he hasn't made a decision to come here yet," Wang Ching-wen (王靖雯) said. "That's what we know and what everybody knows."
In response to Seltzer's comments that Connery will not come to Taiwan to attend the rally, Peter Wang said he was "surprised" by Connery's decision when first contacted by the Taipei Times by telephone earlier yesterday.
However, when asked by the reporter again later yesterday about Connery's visit to Taiwan, Wang said "everything is OK and runs smoothly so far."
additional reporting by Chang Yun-ping
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