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President's wife set to depart for award ceremony

First Lady Wu Shu-chen (吳淑珍) is scheduled to depart for France tomorrow to accept the 2001 Prize for Freedom on behalf of her husband, government sources said yesterday.

Wu is to leave for Paris tomorrow evening and will travel to Strasbourg, home of the European Parliament, to attend the award ceremony set for Wednesday, sources said.

"A videotaped talk by the president will be broadcast during the ceremony and the first lady is expected to say a few words as well," a government official said yesterday.

Liberal International, a London-based association of major liberal parties from more than 60 countries, gave President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) the Prize for Freedom "in recognition of the Taiwanese struggle for freedom and democracy and their free choice concerning Taiwan's institutional future," according to the organization's Web site.

Liberal International's original plan was to present Chen with the award during the group's annual meeting in Denmark this week.

However, after plans to invite Chen to receive the honor in person were thwarted, the organization decided to hold the ceremony in Strasbourg and invited Wu to accept the prize, organizers said.

In August the Danish government refused to issue Chen a visa on the grounds that EU member states have established an unofficial rule that the top five political figures in Taiwan cannot be issued visas, even for private travel.

Wu is also expected to travel to Prague, the Czech Republic, where she is scheduled to meet with playwright-turned-president Vaclav Havel, the recipient of the same prize in 1990, before returning to Taiwan on Nov. 18, sources said.

The Presidential Office is expected to make a formal announcement this morning on Wu's trip.
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