Today, President Chen Shui-bian's (
What upsets her is not her fiance Chao Chien-min (
PHOTO: COURTESY OF THE PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE
And her decision, just one year after her graduation from university, to walk down the aisle has taken many people by surprise.
An eager bride
One senior aide to the president believes that the likely reason why the first daughter is hurrying to get married is that she feels that by doing so she may be able to throw off some of the burdens of being a member of the first family.
"She seems very uncomfortable surrounded by the media and security guards -- even just for a short while," says the aide, "[and] she may think having a family of her own might get her out of the presidential residence so that she can lead her own life."
Several incidents lend weight to the aide's view.
At her graduation ceremony at National Yang Ming University (
On April 16, an evening newspaper had a report of Chen's romance with a young doctor from National Taiwan University Hospital, Chao Chien-min, and Chen lost her temper while working at the Chang Gung Memorial Hospital (長庚醫院), then refusing to answer a telephone call from her mother, Wu Shu-chen (吳淑珍).
But after an hour-long discussion with relatives who visited the hospital to talk to her, Chen's attitude changed and she explained how she and Chao met and fell in love and shared her joy with reporters who packed the hospital hallway.
Han I-hsiung (
But it was only a month later that the first daughter's anger was provoked again. In late May, while President Chen and the first lady were on their visit to Latin America, a newly-launched weekly magazine published a cover story about Chao's past romances.
There was even a rumor at the time that the reason Chen wanted to be married to Chao so soon was that she was already pregnant.
Temper, temper
Upon hearing the news on the morning of May 28, Chen unleashed a diatribe against the media, speaking uninterrupted for several minutes in front of the cameras.
"Don't you [reporters] have any brains? What the hell do you want?" she asked. The emotional scenes were broadcast repeatedly on TV over the next few days. Any joy about Chen's upcoming wedding seemed to have turned, for her at least, into unbearable anguish.
When Chen and Chao returned from a trip to Europe two days ago, she appeared annoyed and simply turned her back to the cameras when she spotted reporters waiting for her at the airport.
Is Chen a spoiled child? Let's consider another occasion.
At President Chen's inauguration ceremony on May 20 last year, Chen Hsing-yu was sitting next to New Party legislator Elmer Feng (馮滬祥), who 17 years previously filed a charge of libel against Chen Shui-bian, when the latter was editor in chief of a "tangwai" (黨外, non-KMT) magazine. At the time, Chen lost the election for Tainan County commissioner before serving eight months in prison after being convicted of Feng's libel charges. More horrifically, Wu Shu-chen was crippled when a truck was driven over her legs in a politically-motivated attempt to kill her husband.
But the Chens' severe hardships did not cost Chen Hsing-yu her good manners. She conversed with Feng in a polite and dignified manner during the event.
Chen's former schoolmates, interviewed by the media, say that Chen is "very accessible and polite," though she has the "utmost distaste" for politics and the media.
In the eyes of one of the president's long-time security guards, Chen Hsing-yu's behavior actually reflects the situation in the first family, in which he says"women are in charge" (
Daughter like mother
"Hsing-yu resembles her mother not only in appearance, but also in temperament. They are straightforward people without affectation," said the guard.
When A-bian was still a legislator and Wu Shu-chen was in low spirits, he would immediately rush home to cheer her up. The philosophy that the "wife comes first" stands in stark contrast to the male chauvinism which prevails in conventional Taiwanese society.
"Chen Hsing-yu shows her emotions forthrightly in front of the cameras, while her younger brother, Chen Chih-jung (
While many press commentaries have sympathized with Chen Hsing-yu for becoming a victim of the more unsavory aspects of media competition, they have also called on Chen to toughen her "fighting spirit" when faced with pressure, and to acquit herself better in the role of "first daughter."
"Members of the first family cannot avoid media coverage. Chen Hsing-yu should seek a better understanding of public relations and face the media squarely instead of seeking to avoid them. The media are after her only out of curiosity and not malice," says Hu Yu-wei (
"Especially when Chen Shui-bian himself is a politician who is a master at using the media to gain publicity for himself, the first lady and Chen Hsing-yu should also learn how to use their influence better," said Hu. "The first daughter's wedding will not be the end of the story, but the start of a new chapter. The media will be waiting to see how the couple interact in their married life. This will probably be an unavoidable nightmare for Chen."
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