President Chen Shui-bian (
Chen made the remarks at a news conference at CKS International Airport, which was held shortly after the arrival of Wu and accompanying staff and reporters from a nine-day stay in Athens.
PHOTO: TONY YAO, TAIPEI TIMES
Noting Wu's frail condition, Chen said he had been concerned about the strain the journey might pose on her from the moment she decided to accompany the Taiwan Paralympic Team to Athens.
Wu, who is paralyzed from the waist down after being hit by a truck in an assassination attempt in 1985, had also mentioned prior to the trip that she was suffering from hemorrhoids.
"Little did we know, it turned out that A-jen's physical status would not be the cause of our worry," the president said, calling Wu by her nickname, "but rather the other side of the Strait, which hoped to prevent Wu from attending the Paralympic Games as head of Team Taiwan."
Two days before Wu and Team Taiwan departed for Athens, Chen said, they received two letters from the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) stating three conditions. These included asking Wu to revoke her position as head of Taiwan Paralympic team, not to host any open social banquets and not to hold news conferences or receive interviews with international media.
In the end they decided to go ahead with the trip to Athens and work to protect their rights on the spot, Chen said.
"Yet we still ran into problems when we arrived [in Athens]," said Chen, referring to the hoopla surrounding Wu's status when the IPC, supposedly due to pressure from Beijing, announced last Tuesday that it had replaced Wu as head of the delegation with Linda Chen (陳李稠), and had downgraded Wu's NPC card, the highest-level official pass for the event, to the less prestigious "transferable guest" card.
After a protest lodged by the delegation, the IPC and Team Taiwan representatives reached an understanding that Wu could attend all relevant activities in her capacity as head of the team and that both sides agreed there would be no further discussion about the issue -- a solution that saved face for everyone.
Expressing gratitude for effort by staff and that the whole thing had come to a happy ending, Chen said that "not only did we work to uphold our national dignity ... but we also were able to do all we planned to do."
For instance, Wu got to keep her NPC card, visited the athletes village, hosted a banquet for foreign dignitaries and held interviews with the international press.
Expressing gratitude for the Greek government's assistance and the security it provided, Chen suggested the National Council on Physical Fitness and Sports re-assess its awards based on the principle of fairness for paralympic athletes who win medals in the games.
Taiwanese regulations offer far more prize money to Olympic medalists than their Paralympic counterparts
Wu said she was happy to have led the Taiwan delegation to Athens and that despite some disturbance, Taiwan had still been able to take part in the games.
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
RSS