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Security worries force Al Gore to scrap local visit

"It seems that security concerns are what made him [Gore] cancel the scheduled trip."

Evelyn Kuo, media director with the Museum of World Religions

Concerns over security have prompted former US vice president Al Gore to cancel his visit to Taipei next week for the opening of the Museum of World Religions, with organizers yesterday expressing regret over his absence.

"Unfortunately we were told that a last-minute scheduling conflict due to security issues made it impossible for him to be with us," Venerable Dharma Master Hsin Tao (心道法師), the leading Zen Buddhist Monk that founded the Museum of World Religions, said in a press release yesterday.

"It seems that security concerns are what made him cancel the scheduled trip," said Evelyn Kuo (郭玉文), media director with the museum.

A recent alert by US officials of more terrorist attacks, possibly this week on American interests either in the US or overseas, was behind Gore's cancelation, organizers said.

Gore was scheduled to attend the opening ceremony of the museum on Nov. 9. He was also due to give a talk in Taipei during the International Conference on the Global Preservation of Sacred Sites, organizers said.

The museum expressed its regret over Gore's canceled trip to Taiwan in the press release, but said its grand opening would still see the presence of 180 other dignitaries from 34 countries, including religious leaders, scholars and museum directors.

These dignitaries include Hans Guggenheim, director of the renowned Project Guggenheim, Father Maximilian Mizzi, who was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize from 1999 to this year, and Abdullah al Obaid, former secretary-general of the World Muslim League, organizers announced in a press conference yesterday afternoon.

Serving as the realization of the decade-long vision of the Hsin Tao, the museum, located in the center of Yungho in Taipei County, houses over 4,000 religious objects and art.

The museum is scheduled to open next Friday morning, which will be followed by the two-day international conference on the preservation of sacred sites that is to conclude on Saturday. The museum is scheduled to open to the press as well as the general public on Saturday afternoon.

Further information can be obtained at the following number: (02) 8231-6666, or the Web site of the museum can be reached at http://www.mwr.org.tw.
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