First lady Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) was scheduled to attend the opening ceremony of the 2004 Athens Paralympic Games last night in her capacity as head of the Taiwanese delegation, using her National Paralympic Card (NPC) card.
Due to concern about Wu's health, the first lady and delegation members were to decide whether she would lead the team in the parade around the arena during the opening ceremony or simply take a seat in the VIP zone.
The controversy over Wu's status was resolved ahead of last night's ceremony, after both Team Taiwan and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) reached a consensus on Thursday.
The IPC agreed that Wu would retain her NPC card and her status as head of Taiwan's delegation. Both sides agreed that there would be no further talk about the issue.
The hoopla surrounding Wu's status erupted when the IPC, supposedly due to pressure from Beijing, announced on Tuesday that it had replaced Wu as head of the delegation with Linda Chen (
After a protest lodged by the delegation, the IPC's chief executive officer Xavier Gonzalez met with Taiwan team representatives Thursday morning and reached an understanding that Wu could attend all relevant activities in her capacity as head of the team -- a solution that saved face for everyone.
Delegation spokesman James Huang (黃志芳), deputy secretary-general of the Presidential Office, said the consensus was good for both sides as it would allow attention to focus on the athletes.
In an interview with the Associated Press on Thursday, Wu said that Taiwan will participate in the 2008 Beijing Olympics as any ban would only embarrass China: "I can't think of any proper reason to restrict our participation."
"If China applies any kind of political pressure to obstruct our participation, I think their actions will be looked down upon by all of us and will be condemned strongly by the international sports community," she said.
Wu added that she hopes her visit in Greece will increase understanding abroad about the situation in Taiwan as well as raise awareness to help those in involved in sports for mentally- and physically-challenged people.
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