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National Day also celebrated in the US

Taiwan's representative office in Washington hosted a National Day party Thursday night, bringing a series of Double Ten National Day celebrations in the US capital to a climax.

The party was presided over by Chen Chien-jen (程建人), the senior representative to the US, and his wife. Nearly 3,000 people, including US officials, the ambassadors of the nation's diplomatic allies in the US, as well as overseas Chinese attended the party.

Eighteen members of Congress issued statements or felicitations to honor the day, with several others phoning Chen to express congratulations.

Celebrations for the Double Ten National Day kicked off in Washington last week with a flag-raising ceremony held in Chinatown on Oct. 5. Four Taiwanese studying at a military academy in Virginia were invited to raise the Republic of China (ROC) and US national flags during the ceremony.

After the flag-raising ceremony, there was a colorful parade of flags, a kungfu performance, dragon dan-cing, Asian song and dance performances and fireworks.

The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in New York also held a national-day party in Manhattan Thursday night, with nearly 1,000 guests, including the representatives of the nation's diplomatic allies stationed at the UN.

Four New York City Council members also read a declaration offering felicitations for the national day.

Andrew Hsia (夏立言), the director of TECO's Manhattan office, in a speech, urged the international community to shed its "ostrich mentality" and address the fact that the ROC is an independent sovereign state in order to give it reasonable representation on the world stage.

Hsia also stressed that Taiwan-US relations are in their best shape since 1979, when the two nations severed diplomatic ties.

He noted that President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) will make a transit stop in New York and accept an award from the International Human Rights Alliance on his way to visit Panama later this month.

In Hong Kong, some 300 overseas Chinese leaders and guests celebrated the Double Ten National Day at the Sun Yat-sen (孫中山) memorial house in Hong Kong.

The ROC was established in 1911 under the leadership of Sun, who lived in that house around that time. To pay homage to him, overseas Chinese leaders celebrate at that house on Oct. 10 every year.
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