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President willing to visit Denmark and receive prize from Liberal International

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) said yesterday that he is looking forward to going to Copenhagen, Denmark in November to receive the 2001 Prize for Freedom in person.

Chen expressed his wish while meeting with Scottish Parliament Speaker Sir David Steel, who is currently on a five-day visit to Taiwan. Chen said he appreciates Liberal International's decision to bestow the prize on him.

"And I believe that the award is not for me, but for the 23 million people of Taiwan," he said, adding that the people of Taiwan deserve recognition for having used their ballots to complete the first-ever democratic transfer of power between different political parties last year.

Liberal International, a London-based association of major liberal political parties around the world, decided to award the prize to Chen at a recent meeting of its Executive Committee held in Brussels.

Chen said that he was more than willing to travel to Denmark to receive the prize on behalf of the government and people.

Nevertheless, he went on to say wryly that he is afraid he may not have the "freedom" to receive the "Prize for Freedom" because of political pressure.

"And if I'm really forced to cancel the trip, it will be very ironic," he noted.

During their meeting, Chen said he was impressed by Steel's courage when Steel said in a public speech recently that China has no legitimate right to claim sovereignty over Taiwan.

In response to Steel's remarks that senior Taiwan officials are welcome to visit Scotland, Chen said he hoped to make a visit. "I hope our third meeting can take place in the Scottish parliament," he told Steel.

Chen also said that he likes the Hollywood movie Braveheart, which depicts the story of Scottish nationalist hero William Wallace.

"I have often recommended this film to my friends and students," he said, adding that the people of Taiwan, like their Scottish counterparts, treasure the values of freedom, democracy and human rights.

"And it seems to me that our people have a special affection for Scotland, as more than half of the Taiwan-financed companies in Britain are located there," Chen said, adding that Taiwan is now one of the four largest foreign capital suppliers to Scotland.
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