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.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
RSS