Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) yesterday said Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) would stand in for her and attend the inauguration ceremony of the Gambian president on behalf of President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
"The president asked me to attend the ceremony on his behalf," Lu said. "However, the Gambian government pushed the ceremony back from Nov. 24 to Dec. 15 and because I have been there before, the president has decided to appoint Premier Su as his special envoy instead."
Lu made the remarks yesterday afternoon while having lunch with legislators at the Sheraton Hotel.
PHOTO: CNA
Yesterday's luncheon, co-hosted by Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), was held to encourage legislators to attend the commencement of the Pacific Congressional Caucus, a sub-group of the Democratic Pacific Union (DPU) co-founded by Lu in August last year.
Lu led the delegation to Gambian President Yahya Jammeh's second inauguration in December 2001, travelling on behalf of Chen as no European government would permit the president to transit for fear of angering China.
Lu yesterday said she was happy to pass the opportunity on to Su because Su had canceled many of his planned overseas trips since taking office.
Su had to cancel a planned visit to Chad in August this year after the central African country switched recognition to China. The news came one day before Su was to depart for Chad to attend Chadian President Idriss Deby's second inauguration.
Earlier in May, Su also had to cancel a planned trip to attend the inauguration of Haiti's President Rene Preval because of China's interference.
Burkina Faso
Mentioning a planned trip to Burkina Faso, Lu dismissed talk that she had declined to visit Taiwan's West African ally, saying that details were still being arranged.
Lu said Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore and his wife invited her to visit their country during their visit to Taiwan last month.
While hosting a state banquet in honor of Compaore and his entourage in Kaohsiung, Chen anounced that Lu would make a formal visit to Burkina Faso this month to further boost cooperation with its African ally.
Speculations abound that Lu had declined to visit because she wanted to chair a meeting of the DPU, an organization of 28 democratic countries from the Asia-Pacific region.
This year's DPU meeting is scheduled to begin on Dec. 8 and run through Dec. 10.
When asked if canceling the trip gave the media the chance to interpret it as a sign of deteriorating relations between her and Chen, Lu said: "Don't worry. We are getting along perfectly well."
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