Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) arrived in Prague on Sunday for the fourth Forum 2000 Conference, a non-official meeting of political, religious and cultural figures around the world.
Lee will speak at a forum session on religion today. The Dalai Lama -- Tibetan spiritual leader and Nobel peace laureate -- will give an opening speech at the session.
Lee met and spoke briefly with Czech President Vaclav Havel, a co-sponsor of the event, at a cocktail reception in honor of the participants on Sunday.
PHOTO: TSOU CHING-WEN, TAIPEI TIMES
Roy Wu (
But Wu said Lee will have plenty of opportunity to speak to them over the next two days -- during the conference and the state banquet hosted by Havel.
Wu also shrugged off Beijing's objections to Lee's presence at the conference. "We are a free country. We have our own government and legislature ... and a free media. Participating in international activities is a matter of our own choice."
It is Lee's second trip abroad since stepping down as president in May. Lee visited the UK in late June. During the visit, his scheduled speech at Manchester University was cancelled due to intense diplomatic pressure from Beijing.
Lee's 1995 visit to his alma mater Cornell University in New York so enraged China that it fired missiles into waters off Taiwan in an attempt to dissuade Taiwanese voters from supporting him in the 1996 presidential elections, the first direct presidential vote in Taiwan.
Speaking in Japan yesterday, Chinese premier Zhu Rongji (
Lee has been planning to visit his alma mater Kyoto University by the end of this month.
More than 50 prominent retired heads of state, religious leaders, writers and artists from around the world are attending the Forum 2000, which is jointly sponsored by Havel and the Nippon Foundation.
The participants include the Dalai Lama, former Israeli foreign minister Shimon Perez, former South African president Frederik De Klerk, and former Polish prime minister Hanna Suchocka.
The central theme of this year's forum is "Culture, Education and Spiritual Values in the Age of Globalization."
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Havel said he is still not sure whether globalization will have a positive or negative impact on the well-being of mankind.
"But one thing is certain -- education will be even more important in the 21st Century."
The conference will run until tomorrow.
More information on the forum is available on its Web site: http://www.forum2000.cz.
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