Jason Hu let `terror' poster stay in circulation

Taichung City Mayor and former foreign minister Jason Hu (胡志強) was aware that pan-blue campaign literature featuring an image from the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on New York City had been distributed, but took no action to recall the posters, according to his aides.

"Hu was shocked by the campaign literature and said that it was not a good way of doing things," said Huang Wen-ming (黃文明), secretary to the Taichung mayor.

However, KMT officials also said that Hu, the director general of the pan-blue campaign headquarters in Taichung, did not take any action to stop the circulation of the poster or prevent future campaign literature from using similar material.

"The poster was only distributed once, mostly as newspaper inserts. Hu never asked the campaign headquarters to put a halt on distribution or to recall the posters that had already been given out," said Chen Ching-fu (陳慶福), head of the publicity department at the KMT's Taichung headquarters.

Featuring pictures of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, al-Qaeda terror figurehead Osama bin Laden and the destruction of one of the World Trade Center towers in New York City, the campaign poster warns the public against voting for President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴), the director of the DPP's International Affairs Department, yesterday called the poster "outrageously offensive and insulting."

"Chen has spent his life fighting for democracy. To call him a dictator or terrorist is an insult. It is an insult not just to Chen, but to all those who support democracy," Hsiao said.

"The use of images from an atrocity on the poster is highly inappropriate and is culturally insensitive," she said, adding that Hu had previously served as Minister of Foreign Affairs.

GUGGENHEIM

Meanwhile, the Guggenheim Museum in New York City, with whom Hu has been in difficult negotiations for months over establishing a satellite museum in Taichung, said yesterday through press officer Jennifer Russo that it would not comment on Hu or the KMT-People First Party alliance using images of the destruction of the Twin Towers or Adolf Hitler.

Hu must still secure a significant proportion of funds from the central government for the museum project to proceed.

On Thursday, the Taipei Times contacted several representative offices for their response to the endorsement of the "terrorism" poster by the former foreign minister.

David Miller, an assistant information officer from the American Institute in Taiwan, declined to comment on the content of the poster, saying that it was an "internal affair."

Maggie Yeh (葉美慧), head of press and public affairs for the British Cultural and Trade Office, said director general Derek Marsh was not prepared to comment on the matter.

The Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the US killed 68 British nationals.

Howard Lin (林浩然), press officer at the Israel Economic and Culture Office in Taipei, also declined to respond, saying that it was an "internal affair" and that it was not possible to comment at this "sensitive political moment."