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Wu denies interfering in Siew's visit to US

Joseph Wu (吳釗燮), the nation's representative to the US, yesterday dismissed as "groundless" a report that he had gone out of his way to interfere with a visit to the US by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) vice presidential candidate Vincent Siew (蕭萬長).

Wu said he would not do any such thing, nor would the US government allow him to interfere.

He made the comment in response to a report in the Chinese-language United Daily News that he was trying to spoil Siew's visit by preventing the opposition candidate from meeting senior US officials.

Wu said US officials had told him before the July visit of Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) that they would extend the same treatment to Hsieh's opposition counterpart, adding that there was no way for his office to sway the host country on this regard.

Contrary to the report, Wu said his office would do its best to help Siew arrange his itinerary in the US, but he has yet to receive any information on Siew's trip.

His remarks were supported by the KMT's representative to Washington, Jason Yuan (袁健生), who claimed that he had seen nothing to indicate that Taiwanese officials in Washington were trying to frustrate Siew's visit until he read the report.

Yuan said he did not believe that there was any truth to the report as Siew would prod Washington to conclude a free trade agreement, which would benefit Taiwan.

Siew was scheduled to arrive in Washington yesterday for a four-day visit. He will then travel to California and Canada for a six-day visit.
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