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Wu calls on the world to help UN bid

"If Taiwan is not a country, how can you call me the first lady?" Wu Shu-chen, first lady PHOTO: REUTERS

In the first speech of her nine-day US visit, first lady Wu Shu-chen (吳淑珍) on Friday urged the international community to rally behind the country's campaign for UN membership.

"Nothing in this world is impossible," Wu said at the National Arts Club in New York City, where artist Welly Young sang The Impossible Dream from the Broadway musical Man of la Mancha before the first lady's speech.

Wu, whose speech varied from her original script, stressed that though the UN has once again rejected Taiwan's bid to become a member, Taiwanese will not give up their efforts.

"Taiwan will not give up, just as Welly Young said in his song. Even though many people consider this impossible, we will not give up, and one day we will make the impossible possible,'' Wu said.

Wu urged the world's democracies, which she says have great love for freedom and peace, to show support for Taiwan and to"not give up on Taiwan until the day that Taiwan can enter the UN."

"If Taiwan is not a country, how can you call me the first lady?"

Wu Shu-chen, first lady

Wu, wife of President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), is leading a 20-plus member delegation on an 11-day private visit to Washington, Los Angeles and New York.

Wu said that Taiwan's democracy is a model of success despite the threats that come from across the Taiwan Strait.

She said she believes that Taiwanese live with dignity and that spirit of dignity will continue.

The first lady yesterday formally expressed the country's regret over Taiwan's failed bid to re-enter the UN during the General Assembly last week.

She cited Taiwan's active contributions to the international community and its achievements in democratic development as reasons to allow the nation to enter.

She said that her husband has taken pains to deepen Taiwan's democracy since he took office and that he has sought to contribute to the US war on terror.

National Arts Club President O. Aldon James Jr. presented Wu with a key to the club's Gramercy Park.

Later on Friday, Wu was interviewed by CBS television. She stressed that Taiwan is a sovereign state.

"If Taiwan is not a country, how can you call me the first lady?" Wu asked her interviewer.

Wu, who studied piano and ballet as a child, also attended a concert given by the New York Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra at Lincoln Center.

The first lady was to visit the Empire State Building and other New York landmarks before traveling by train to Washington today.

Barbara Jane Schrage, acting managing director of the American Institute in Taiwan, called on Wu at her hotel early in the day after greeting her at the airport when she arrived in New York.
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