Chen accepts invite from US National Press Club

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) has agreed to accept a US Na-tional Press Club invitation and to give a "Newsmaker Luncheon Speech" at the club's headquarters in Washington DC in September or October, local media reported.

The National Press Club on July 17 invited Chen. The club's president Richard Ryan on Monday revealed that Chen has accepted the invitation.

"I visited the Press Club as a Morning Newsmaker in December of 1999, and I would be most happy and honored to accept your invitation to visit again as a luncheon speaker," Chen replied in his letter to Ryan on July 25.

According to Ryan, he informed US Secretary of State Colin Powell about the invitation on Monday. "Whether or not Chen can make the trip to Washington depends on the State Department's decision," Ryan said.

A State Department official, however, yesterday refused to comment on the possibility of Chen's trip and stressed that Taiwan's high-level officials' visits to the US have to be private and unofficial.

The official also said that neither Taiwan's Presidential Office nor its chief representative in the US, Chen Chien-jen (程建人), has contacted the State Department regarding the trip.

The National Press Club, for more than 90 years, has been the most influential such group in the US. An average of 70 Newsmaker Luncheon Speeches are held by the club each year.