Child upstages Chen after speech

A fearless Aboriginal child caught President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) off guard yesterday by handing him a petition about nuclear waste following a Presidential Office function.

Hsieh Wen-lung (謝文龍), from the Tao (達悟) tribe of Orchid Island (蘭嶼), Taitung County, asked the president for assurances that the government would not lie to the Aboriginal people again and would make good on its promise to remove by the end of the year radioactive waste deposited on the island.

Chen was meeting with children from various countries who had participated in the 2002 International Children's Human Rights Summit in the Presidential Office yesterday morning when the incident happened.

As the president prepared to leave after addressing the young ambassadors, Hsieh, a representative from Orchid Island, shouted, "Wait, Mr. President." He then handed the petition to Chen.

After receiving the petition, the president said, "Don't do to others what you don't want others to do to you."

Hsieh, a student at the Lanyu Junior High School, showed little fear while speaking his mind in front of the president. Hsieh said he had been living with radioactive waste since the day he was born and his biggest desire was to see the waste removed as early as possible.

When he spoke at the children's summit earlier, Hsieh had said that the depositing of radioactive waste on Orchid Island was a violation of the Tao people's human rights and makes them fear for their environment. Hsieh was particularly upset with the fact that Taipower (台電) had failed to take the waste away as it promised.

"Our people detest the government's constant lying," Hsieh said.

The radioactive waste Hsieh was referring to was scheduled to be removed by the year's end, but Taipower has yet to arrange a budget for the safe removal of the waste.

Although Minister of Economic Affairs Lin Yi-fu (林義夫) had apologized for this oversight in the Legislative Yuan last week, nothing much has been done since.

As a result, the Tao people decided to send a representative to petition the president.

Responding to Hsieh's petition, the Public Affairs Office in the Presidential Office said that the establishment of a radioactivity-free environment for future generations is a consensus and common goal shared by the ruling and opposition parties.

It said that the Presidential Office would pass Hsieh's request to the authorities concerned and ask them to deal with the issue accordingly.

At the reception ceremony, President Chen said that the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child was a fundamental commitment of the international community to the protection of children's human rights.

He added that this UN convention is also one that has been ratified by most countries.

"Although Taiwan is not a member of the United Nations, our government has made it a policy to adhere to the UN's Convention on the Rights of the Child, and we try our best to improve the protection of children's safety," Chen said.