US congressmen meet head of Control Yuan

Control Yuan President Frederick Chien (錢復) received a warm reception from members of the US Congress on Thursday, days after his humanitarian delegation visited the site of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York.

Chien's delegation, dispatched to convey Taiwan's condolences and support for the US in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, arrived in New York last Saturday and traveled to Washington on Wednesday.

Dozens of congressmen honored Chien and his eight-member delegation during a dinner at Taiwan's Twin Oaks mansion in Washington and at a Senate reception.

In New York, the delegation met with Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and gave him a US$1 million check from Taiwan for the bereaved families of policemen and firefighters killed at the World Trade Center.

It also met with leaders of the Chinese community in New York.

Nine Taiwanese were killed in the attacks.

Chinatown in New York abuts the trade center site and is still partially closed, seriously hurting area businesses.

Chien told the Taipei Times that the delegation had hosted a party to show solidarity and support for the Chinese community.

In Washington, the message was broader, Chien saying that the mission was to convey to the US government "our sorrow, our sadness, our condolences, but most important of all, our strong support for what they're doing in the war against terrorism."

The delegation met House of Representatives Majority Leader Richard Armey, House International Relations Committee Chairman Henry Hyde and former chairman Benjamin Gilman, and Ways and Means Committee member Charles Rangel. Both the Twin Oaks dinner and the Senate reception were attended by several congressmen and former senior diplomats.

Chien told the Taipei Times that it was clear to him that the politicians he had met recognized that Taiwan was fully behind the war against terrorism, "and that we have been doing a lot of things ... on prevention of money-laundering, and we are also trying to copy the US anti-terrorist legislation in our parliament."

Allegations that terrorist money-laundering has been carried out in Taiwan had, however, come up, Chien said.

He said Taiwan's banks and stock market had been alerted and that the Ministry of Finance had taken "very stringent measures."

What made the trip unique, Chien said, was that cross-strait relations and the upcoming legislative elections in Taiwan had not been brought up.