First lady Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) was scheduled to attend the opening ceremony of the 2004 Athens Paralympic Games last night in her capacity as head of the Taiwanese delegation, using her National Paralympic Card (NPC) card.
Due to concern about Wu's health, the first lady and delegation members were to decide whether she would lead the team in the parade around the arena during the opening ceremony or simply take a seat in the VIP zone.
PHOTO: SUNG CHIH-HSIUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
The controversy over Wu's status was resolved ahead of last night's ceremony, after both Team Taiwan and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) reached a consensus on Thursday.
The IPC agreed that Wu would retain her NPC card and her status as head of Taiwan's delegation. Both sides agreed that there would be no further talk about the issue.
The hoopla surrounding Wu's status erupted when the IPC, supposedly due to pressure from Beijing, announced on Tuesday that it had replaced Wu as head of the delegation with Linda Chen (
After a protest lodged by the delegation, the IPC's chief executive officer Xavier Gonzalez met with Taiwan team representatives Thursday morning and reached an understanding that Wu could attend all relevant activities in her capacity as head of the team -- a solution that saved face for everyone.
Delegation spokesman James Huang (黃志芳), deputy secretary-general of the Presidential Office, said the consensus was good for both sides as it would allow attention to focus on the athletes.
In an interview with the Associated Press on Thursday, Wu said that Taiwan will participate in the 2008 Beijing Olympics as any ban would only embarrass China: "I can't think of any proper reason to restrict our participation."
"If China applies any kind of political pressure to obstruct our participation, I think their actions will be looked down upon by all of us and will be condemned strongly by the international sports community," she said.
Wu added that she hopes her visit in Greece will increase understanding abroad about the situation in Taiwan as well as raise awareness to help those in involved in sports for mentally- and physically-challenged people.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
RSS