In keeping with an annual tradition he began several years ago, President Chen Shui-bian (
Expressing his hope that everyone could be "a happy volunteer," Chen said he would volunteer on next year's anniversary as well.
"Even when I am no longer president, I will still volunteer. I wish to be a happy volunteer when I retire," he said as he sat with his sleeves rolled up among other volunteers at the recycling plant's warehouse run by the Buddhist Compassionate Relief Tzu Chi Foundation (
PHOTO: SEAN CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
Chen chatted with his fellow volunteers as he ripped out pages from discarded files and threw them into boxes for recycling.
"May 20 is my happiest day, not because it is the anniversary of my term in office but because it is Taiwan's Volunteer Day," he said.
In previous years Chen has marked the occasion by volunteering to feed elderly patients at hospitals, washing cars and picking up litter from the street.
In light of recent China trips made by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜), there had been intense speculation that Chen might use the anniversary to make a speech on cross-strait policy.
The Presidential Office on Tuesday, however, issued a press release stating that Chen had no plan to make a speech yesterday to mark the beginning of his fifth year in office.
Meanwhile, a new list of presidential senior advisors and presidential policy advisors was released yesterday. The Presidential Office presents a new list of advisors each year on May 20.
Continuing on as senior advisors to the president are Koo Kwang-ming (
Koo had offered to resign in February because he was upset over Chen's 10-point consensus with Soong.
Hsu had embarrassed the administration back in March when he issued an unusual statement praising Beijing's "one China" principle.
The long-time supporter of Taiwan's independence published the statement on March 26, the same day a mass rally was held in Taipei to protest China's "Anti-Secession" Law.
In an interview earlier this month, Chen said that he understood that Hsu had issued the statement under the pressure from Beijing.
One name missing from the list of presidential policy advisors was Acer founder Stan Shih (
After China enacted its Anti-Secession Law in late March, Shih offered to resign as a policy adviser, saying that he wanted to underscore his political neutrality.
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