Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) arrived in China yesterday on a rare visit to promote the 2009 World Games, which will be held in Kaohsiung in July.
Chen said she did not apply for a China-issued “Taiwan compatriot travel document” (台胞證) and was using her Republic of China passport to visit Beijing in her capacity as mayor of the host city of the World Games.
Speaking to the press upon her arrival in Beijing, Chen said: “As the host city for the World Games, we will give member countries preferential treatment by granting their staffers and athletes visa-free courtesy. I appreciate the mutual courtesy [extended by China] during my entry into Beijing.”
Chen met Beijing Mayor Guo Jinlong (郭金龍) yesterday afternoon and invited him to attend the World Games. During her four-day stay, Chen will also meet Chinese Olympic Committee chairman Liu Peng (劉鵬) and Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng (韓正).
On Tuesday Chen said she was canceling her trip to Beijing and Shanghai because of concerns over the swine flu outbreak in China, but changed her mind on Wednesday and said she was proceeding with the trip.
Chen said China was the last leg of her global promotion tour for the 2009 World Games.
Chen yesterday dismissed media speculation that she would communicate with Beijing authorities on behalf of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).
She added, however, that she had no objections if her visit to China as the highest-ranking Democratic Progressive Party government chief were labeled as an “ice-breaking” trip.
“It is true that the DPP had few opportunities to communicate with Beijing in the past. Nowadays, Beijing only communicates with a single party [the Chinese Nationalist Party, or KMT] and only hears its one-sided voice. But there is a substantial gap between [the KMT's mindset] and the opinion of most Taiwanese,” she said.
“Given the chance, I will let the Chinese authorities hear other Taiwanese voices instead of the KMT's alone,” she said.
In Taipei, Tsai said Chen's visit did not run counter to the party's anti-China policies.
Chen's visit has nothing to do with cross-strait politics because Chen is visiting China to fulfill her obligations under the International World Games Association, which requires the host city to promote the event globally, Tsai said.
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