In an interview with the international press in Athens, first lady Wu Shu-jen (
Expressing disapproval of the former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government's decision to call the nation "Chi-nese Taipei" at the Games, Wu said she would never have agreed to it if she had been in charge. The joint interview was attended by representatives from the BBC, AFP and La Libre Belgique, among others.
Wu said it is unreasonable that Taiwanese are not allowed to sing their national anthem and raise their national flag like other countries at the Games. Wu said she hoped the unfair regulation would one day be revoked to enable Taiwan athletes to sing their national anthem during the Games.
Dismissing suggestions that her holding a National Paralympic Committee (NPC) card was intended to provoke China, Wu said that her decision to lead the Taiwan Paralympic delegation was to fulfill a promise she made last October.
Wu referred to her words when meeting with the Taiwan delegation for the 2003 World Wheelchair Games last year, during which athletes expressed hope that she could head this delegation to this year's Paralympics. Wu agreed immediately, noting that her physical status should qualify her for the position.
Presidential Office Secre-tary-General Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday lauded Wu asf carrying out "best citizen diplomacy."
"Via interviews with international press, the first lady let Taiwan's voice be heard in the international arena and allowed the world to see Taiwan's remarkable achievements," Su said.
Wu attended the judo event yesterday to cheer for two players from Team Taiwan, Lee Ching-chung (
On Friday night, Wu attended the opening ceremony of the 2004 Athens Paralympic Games in her capacity as the head of the Taiwan delegation using her NPC card, the highest-level official pass for the event.
Wu, on the advice of accompanying staff and doctors, took a seat in the VIP zone during the opening ceremony instead of her original plan to lead the Team Taiwan in the parade around the arena. Wu was paralyzed from the waist down after being hit by a truck in an assassination attempt in 1985.
According to delegation spokesman James Huang (
"The first lady had a pleasant exchange with the vice president of the Republic of Iran. They exchanged views on the experience of promoting sports events for the physically-challenged," Huang said. He added that International Paralympic Committee (IPC) president Philip Craven of Sweden had wanted to introduce Sweden's queen to Wu, but the meeting did not happen because Wu had to enter the VIP zone.
Given that Deng Pufang (
While such interaction didn't take place Friday night, Huang said that a Chinese representative had seen Wu and a brief greeting took place.
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
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A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that
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