Beijing fails to bar Wu from Games

Despite political pressure and attempts from Beijing to bar first lady Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) from heading the Taiwan delegation to the Paralympic Games in Athens, the Presidential Office yesterday said that Wu and the entire delegation will be present at the opening ceremony and throughout the games to defend Taiwan's dignity.

"There is no question that the first lady is still serving as the head of Taiwan's paralympic delegation because she has been officially invited to the Games and was given a National Paralympic Committee card, which is the top-class official card," said James Huang (黃志芳), deputy secretary-general of the Presidential Office who serves as the delegation's spokesman.

Huang clarified an erroneous news report in the local media, according to which Wu would return to Taiwan immediately after allegedly being disallowed to attend the opening ceremony and has been deprived of the position as the Taiwan team's leader.

"The first lady will certainly be present at the opening ceremony on Friday, she represents the nation and she will be present at all public official activities," Huang said.

"However, as usual, we have suffered some setbacks while negotiating with the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and the Athens Organizational Committee," he said.

Huang did not directly accuse China of putting pressure on the committee to block Wu's participation, but merely said that, "you know where the dark force comes from."

"We have to continually negotiate with the IPC to solve problems. We sincerely hope that it can put aside political concerns to respect the spirit of the Paralympic Games," he said.

The first lady received an invitation from IPC President Philip Craven in November last year to lead the Taiwan team to the 2004 Paralympic Games.

Meanwhile, the Presidential Office issued a statement condemning China for sparing no effort to put pressure on Taiwan in the international community, saying that the government will cautiously cope with China's tricks and firmly defend the rights of Taiwan's athletes as well as the dignity of the nation.

"She [Wu] is eminently qualified to lead the team because she is disabled and also serves as honorary chairwoman of the Chinese-Taipei Paralympic Committee. She has devoted herself to the promotion of sports events for the disabled in Taiwan," the statement said.

Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰), deputy secretary to President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), said that unless the delegation is given unacceptable treatment, such as an inappropriate effort to hurt Taiwan's dignity, the first lady and the delegation will not withdraw from Athens.

Wu and the delegation, including 25 athletes and some 30 journalists, arrived in Athens yesterday after a 13-hour flight. They enjoyed a high-profile reception from the government of Greece as well as a warm welcome from many overseas Taiwanese in Athens.

Huang denied that there was any political reason behind Wu being forced to cancel parts of her schedule yesterday, including meeting with Craven and visiting Taiwan's athletes.

"Deciding not to interfere with the athletes' training, and considering that Mr. Craven is very busy, the meeting has been rearranged," Huang said.

About 4,000 athletes from 145 countries will take part in the games, which are held in the same year and at the same venue as the summer Olympic Games.