Wed, Dec 26, 2001 page3

• Lu makes triumphant return home

  FRIENDSHIP Although the vice president stayed only briefly in France and Austria, she believes that both stopovers represent `small breakthroughs' for Taiwan

  • By Monique Chu / STAFF REPORTER
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  Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) returned to Taiwan yesterday via Europe after a whirlwind trip to Taiwan's western African ally Gambia, saying her short stays in two European countries were "small breakthroughs" for Taiwan.

  "Thanks to the efforts made by the foreign ministry, I was able to enter two important European Union countries on my way back to Taiwan," Lu said at a press conference yesterday afternoon.

  

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  "In my capacity as the vice president of Taiwan, I obtained entry visas for these two countries where I made brief stays and received friendly, comfortable, dignified treatment," Lu added.

  The two countries Lu referred to were Austria and France, foreign ministry officials said.

  Lu also said that it's crucial the international community have a positive impression of Taiwan so the nation can break the diplomatic isolation that has troubled it for decades.

  Previously, it was believed that the EU had a rule saying Taiwan's top five political figures -- the president, vice president, premier and the ministers of foreign affairs and defense -- would not be issued visas, even for private travel.

  However, 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."

  Lu's original plan to make an overnight stopover in Holland on her way to Gambia, however, was thwarted at the last minute due to what the Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Hung-mao (田弘茂) called "technical errors" made by the ministry.

  When asked to comment yesterday on the one-day delay of her trip to Gambia, Lu said: "The Holland mixup ? was due to technical errors. It's a pity that the media's reports on the proposed stayover caused the nation to shoulder such onerous pressures" -- presumably from China.

  Because of the mixup, Lu was forced to postpone her trip by a day and left last Wednesday evening. Her European transit stop was changed to Paris. However, she was not permitted to pass through immigration.

  During the stopover at Paris' Charles de Gaul Airport she met with Taiwan's EU representative before continuing on to Gambia on a chartered jet.

  At yesterday's press conference, Lu said her next overseas trip will be to Nicaragua to attend that country's presidential inauguration. The vice president is expected to travel to Paraguay -- Taiwan's only diplomatic ally in Southern America -- early next month as well.

  Lu will depart on Jan. 5 and make a stopover in New York City before flying to Nicaragua, sources said.

  Reflecting on her trip to Africa and Europe, the outspoken vice president offered advice to the people of Taiwan.

  "Although Gambia's per capita GNP is only US$295, I feel people there are very happy," Lu said. "I urge the people of Taiwan to have a more forward-looking attitude instead of immersing themselves in endless gossip every day."

  Taiwan's formal entry into the WTO on Jan. 1 was one of the things that occupied her thoughts on the trip back to Taiwan, Lu said.

  "Cross-strait relations are expected to enter a new era after the two sides enter the WTO. Let's drop the unification-independence dispute ? and think of how to establish good relations between Taiwan and China in the context of globalization. I think China should be treated as a relay station instead of a terminal," Lu said.
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