President Chen Shui-bian (
Presidential Office spokesman James Huang (黃志芳) said that since taking office, the government had renounced the elaborate departure rituals adopted by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administration, and it would maintain its simplicity rule.
"President Chen likes to handle things in a simple way, and after he took office he has repeatedly stressed that there should be as few officials to see him off as possible when he travels abroad," Huang said.
Chen is scheduled to leave from CKS International Airport at noon on Friday and fly non-stop to New York.
After two nights in New York, he will fly to Panama on Sunday to take part in activities celebrating the 100th anniversary of Panama's independence.
Huang said that in the past three-and-a-half years, Chen, Vice President Annette Lu (
"In past few decades, whenever the president or the vice president made overseas trips, the government would always issue official documents to its departments about the procedure at the airport. The Presidential Office did not issue official documents for the president's trip this time," Huang said.
"This time we have invited 12 heads of departments to see the president off. If a head is busy, he can request for leave of absence or send a representative to the airport in his stead. It is not compulsory that the [invited] official has to be at the airport and we have to clear this up with the public," he said.
He said the 12 guests are Lu, the heads of the five branches of government, Secretary General of the Presidential Office Chiou I-jen (邱義仁), National Security Council Secretary General Kang Ning-hsiaung (康寧祥), Minister of National Defense Tang Yao-ming (湯曜明), Chief of the General Staff Admiral Li Chieh (李傑), Vice Minister Michael Kau (高英茂), Panamanian Ambassador Jose Antonio Dominguez and Burkina Faso Ambassador Jacques Sawadogo.
Huang said that when the KMT was in power, there was one occasion when 150 officials were at the airport to wish the president bon voyage.
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