Czech President Vaclav Havel and first lady Dagmar Veskrnova plan to entertain Taiwan's first lady Wu Shu-chen (
Having just accepted the 2001 Prize for Freedom in Strasbourg, France, on behalf of her husband President Chen Shui-bian (
Although confined to a wheelchair, Wu has undertaken a whirlwind, one-week tour of Europe which will conclude this weekend. As the trip has progressed, behind-the-scene stories have surfaced about the twists and turns of her journey as a de facto diplomat from Taiwan .
Her family's concerns have been foremost in Wu's mind. Before departing for Europe, Wu said her son Chen Chih-chung (陳致中) advised her not to embark on the journey as he worried that planes flying from Taiwan to Europe would go over the Middle East, where the US is fighting its war on terror.
Unforeseen obstacles
Unforeseen objections from China over Wu's travels through Europe have been another cause of anxiety. Earlier, France and Denmark refused to issue a visa to President Chen so as not to raise China's hackles.
Moreover, David Lee (李大維), Taiwan's top representative in Brussels, traveled to Strasbourg three times before Wu's arrival to help arrange her trip to the home of the European Parliament. During the visit, Wu met with the speaker of the EU assembly for a closed-door meeting, an insider said.
"The end result, although unsatisfactory, is acceptable," said a foreign ministry official, commenting on the fact that Wu had to accept the prize on behalf of the president.
When Liberal International, a London-based federation of parties from more than 60 countries, announced Chen as the 2001 winner of the Prize for Freedom, several diplomatic options were explored as to how Chen would accept the award.
Initially, the top priority for Taiwan's foreign ministry as well as Liberal International was to push for Chen's personal acceptance of the prize.
But when Copenhagen refused to issue a visa to Chen in August, other options surfaced, ranging from pushing for Chen's acceptance of the prize "in one of the EU countries," to Wu's acceptance on behalf of Chen, to even a video conference, sources said.
De facto ban
But a de facto EU visa ban on high-ranking Taiwanese officials made Chen's trip to Europe impossible, and triggered sympathy from a number of European politicians.
"By hosting this event at the European Parliament, we wish to underline our deep concern at the current visa policy," said Pat Cox, leader of the European Liberal Democrats and the Irish front runner for the presidency of the European Parliament, during the ceremony on Wednesday.
Cox accused EU foreign ministers of secretly agreeing amongst themselves not to grant visas to Taiwan's top five officials -- the president, vice president, premier and ministers of foreign affairs and defense.
He also said that it was all the more ironic as the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, viewed by China as a separatist, had just visited Strasbourg to address the European Parliament.
Lord David Russell-Johnston, president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and vice president of Liberal International, offered his view.
"All of us in the liberal movement want good relations with China and we want to see China move in a democratic direction. But we do not accept that this should be any barrier to our recognizing openly what has been accomplished in Taiwan," Russell-Johnston said.
Some have already taken action to help push for the abolition of the EU's visa policy although Chris Patten, the EU's external affairs commissioner, said in May that "there is no Union policy to deny entry visas to Taiwanese government officials."
`A long journey'
"I said in Copenhagen last week that the member parties ... should ask questions in their parliaments, pressing the ministers and the cabinets to loosen this line and to adopt the US line, which is to give visas on a case-by-case basis," Hans van Baalen, vice president of Liberal International, told the Taipei Times, while admitting the fight would be "a long journey."
The foreign ministry official admitted the task was an onerous one.
"For Taiwan's president, vice president and premier in particular, it's impossible to arrange for them confidential trips to EU countries under the media scrutiny. But then any public appearance of these officials in the EU will raise the eyebrows of China, a situation the Europeans would try to avoid in the first place by not granting them any visa," he said.
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
STILL DANGEROUS: The typhoon was expected to weaken, but it would still maintain its structure, with high winds and heavy rain, the weather agency said One person had died amid heavy winds and rain brought by Typhoon Krathon, while 70 were injured and two people were unaccounted for, the Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday, while work and classes have been canceled nationwide today for the second day. The Hualien County Fire Department said that a man in his 70s had fallen to his death at about 11am on Tuesday while trimming a tree at his home in Shoufeng Township (壽豐). Meanwhile, the Yunlin County Fire Department received a report of a person falling into the sea at about 1pm on Tuesday, but had to suspend search-and-rescue
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