Lee admits deal on Chen's meeting with Laura Bush

President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) meeting with US first lady Laura Bush at the inauguration ceremony for Costa Rican President Oscar Arias in the Central American nation's capital on Monday was the result of a tacit agreement between Taipei and Washington, Taiwan's de facto ambassador to the US, David Lee (李大維) confirmed on Friday.

Lee responding to a question from reporters about whether the meeting was a result of a deal between Taipei and Washington in the wake of a top US administration official's remarks.

US Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick said that the US had made an arrangement for Chen to transit through Anchorage or Honolulu during his recent Latin America visit, which he turned down, piqued by Washington's refusal to allow him to land in a larger city such as new York or Los Angeles for a stopover.

Zoellick confronted during a Congressional hearing on Wednesday by two pro-Taiwan US congressmen who said that the US administration should apologize to president Chen for snubbing a democratically elected leader.

In addition, Chen met with the US first lady, who headed the US delegation to the inauguration ceremony.

A high-ranking US State Department official also telephoned Chen when he was visiting the Costa Rica, reaffirming the solid and friendly relations between the two countries, Zoellick added.

Lee that during his communications with the Bush administration over the president's visit to Costa Rica, both sides touched on the meeting between Chen and the US first lady during the inauguration ceremony for Arias.

The US was not opposed to the meeting, but the details of the meeting were not discussed, Lee said.

During the meeting, the president shook hands with the first lady. Moments later, he approached her again and chatted briefly with her as one of his aides snapped a commemorative photo.

The telephone call from the State Department official to greet Chen was also the result of an agreement between him and the US, he added.