President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday said that the marriage of Kaohsiung City Mayor Frank Hsieh's (謝長廷) daughter will bring much-needed good luck to the nation following a devastating earthquake.
"When my daughter got married last year, there was a typhoon sweeping through Taiwan. However, things went well and the DPP won the year-end legislative election," Chen said. "Although we had a devastating earthquake today, I'm sure that things will also turn out fine."
Chen made the remarks at the wedding ceremony of Hsieh's daughter, Hsieh Wei-fen (
PHOTO: CHU YU-PIN, TAIPEI TIMES
The 28-year-old bride, nicknamed "Little Penguin," is Frank Hsieh's oldest child and only daughter. She works at a computer networking company.
The groom, Chen Chin-kuo (
Among the 600 guests were former premier Chang Chun-hsiung (
Former president Lee Teng-hui (
Likening yesterday's earthquake to difficulties in a marriage, the president encouraged the newly-weds to learn to adapt to married life.
"Marriage is, after all, different from dating. You're bound to have disagreements and arguments, but don't ever forget your promises to each other during difficult times," he said.
Hsieh said that although he is sad that his daughter is leaving the house, he feels happy at the same time that she has found a fine husband.
"It's great that my son-in-law is a doctor. It'll save me a lot of time and money to see the doctor," he said.
He also promised that his daughter will make a good wife in the future because she is very good at doing household chores.
"I remember when I was pursuing my master's degree in Japan, my wife and I were so poor that we couldn't afford to buy an air conditioner," he said. "So I often put my daughter in the washing machine during the summer to cool her down. I guess that's one of the reasons why she's so good at doing laundry."
In addition to predicting Hsieh's success in his re-election bid for Kaohsiung City mayor, Chen suggested that Hsieh will move up the political ladder.
"I guarantee you that Mayor and Chairman Hsieh will win in the year-end mayoral election. And I can tell you that he'll have more success in the future," Chen said.
During the seven-minute speech, the president poked fun at Hsieh, who he called his "best partner" and "long-time comrade in arms."
"He's better than me in many ways. While he has a master's degree, I have a bachelor's. He's also a more fluent speaker than I am," Chen said. "But one thing I take pride in is that I'm about to be a grandfather, and that's the one thing he has no way of beating me to."
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
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