Representative to the EU Chen Chien-jen (程建人) yesterday expressed sympathy for Isabella Cheng (程念慈), one of the National Security Bureau officials involved in the case concerning former US State Department official Donald Keyser.
Chen described Cheng as a rare civil servant who has outstanding qualities and respects her job.
After the FBI's arrest of Keyser, the former deputy assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific affairs, the media in this country has speculated about a relationship between Cheng and Keyser and what happened during their meetings.
Chen, who was head of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Washington when Keyser made a side visit to Taiwan during an official trip to Japan last September, declined to say whether he had been informed of Keyser's visit.
At a tea party for reporters sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Chen stressed the uproar over the Keyser case would not affect Taiwan-US relations and urged reporters not to make up stories about Cheng.
Mentioning Cheng and her husband Chris Cockel, a correspondent for the China Post, Chen said he could imagine the great pressure the event has caused her family.
"Don't write stories unless you have the facts, or you may hurt people," Chen said.
The 65-year-old diplomat faces grave challenges as the representative to the EU.
During a Taiwan-EU conference in Belgium earlier this month, he expressed Taipei's growing concern that the EU might lift its arms embargo against China.
"Removing the arms embargo will also affect Japan, South Korea, Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand ? If lifting the arms embargo would disrupt regional peace and stability here, it would not do Europe much good, either," he said.
French President Jacques Chirac's visit to Beijing next month and the EU-China summit meeting in early December are two key events that might influence the EU's decision, he said.
Chen said there has been little progress in improving China's human rights record since the EU imposed the ban after the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre.
He said one of his prime tasks in Brussels is to establish contacts in the EU and build communication channels.
The diplomat said he believed Taiwan's annual bid to join the World Health Organization (WHO) has made progress each year. This year, Taiwan focused on lobbying the EU for its support.
"We cannot expect too much progress to be made in a single year, but there will be steps forward. There is space for more effort," he said.
Asked whether he regarded President Chen Shui-bian's (
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