Thu, Sep 16, 2004 page3

• Paralympic body shuns first lady

  DARK FORCES The foreign ministry and Presidential Office were apoplectic over the refusal to recognize Wu Shu-jen as delegation leader, despite her lack of qualifications

  • By Melody Chen / STAFF REPORTER
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  The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday condemned what it called discrimination against Taiwan by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) after it declined to recognize first lady Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) as leader of Taiwan's delegation to the Paralympic Games in Athens.

  In a letter addressed to Linda Chen (陳李綢), president of Taiwan's National Paralympic Committee (NPC), on Monday, the IPC explained its policy prevented anyone who was not a serving NPC president, secretary-general or vice president from assuming team leadership at the Games.

  "For this reason, the only persons entitled to NPC accreditation in the case of Chinese Taipei are: Ms. Linda Chen as the NPC President and Mr. Liu Pei-ling [劉北陵] as the NPC Secretary General," the letter said.

  It added: "As agreed before, Ms. Wu Shu-chen and her party can be accredited as GTs [transferable guest]."

  Chen, who traveled to Malaysia on Wu's behalf to apply for an NPC card in July, said she clearly told the Paralympics authorities at the time that Wu would lead Taiwan's team to the Games.

  "They happily accepted that Wu is the leader of our team, not me. If they intend to oppress us by appointing me as leader of our team, I will not accept that," she told reporters.

  The IPC was merely looking for an excuse in citing the regulation, ministry spokesman Michel Lu (呂慶龍) said.

  "The ministry has checked the identities of leaders of Paralympic teams from 145 countries. The leaders of teams from Australia, New Zealand, Honduras, Chile, Peru, Mexico, Germany, Belgium, Nigeria, the US and South Africa do not fit the IPC accreditation policy either," he said.

  "The IPC apparently discriminated against Taiwan," Lu said, adding the ministry was indignant that Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan (孔泉) told reporters Beijing had demanded the IPC "properly handle the `one China' problem."

  China's Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman, Zhang Mingqing (張銘清), said at a press conference yesterday that he believed the IPC would "cope with the matter well."

  China's "irrational and inappropriate" interference in the Games was absolutely unacceptable, Lu said.

  He said Wu would continue her original schedule in Athens and that the ministry supported all decisions made by Presidential Office Deputy Secretary-General James Huang (黃志芳), who is accompanying Wu.

  "The IPC's bullying is unendurable. It succumbed to behind-the-scenes forces of darkness to oppress Taiwan," Huang said on Tuesday.

  If the leaders of other teams to the Games had been either NPC presidents or secretaries-general, Taiwan would not have objected to the IPC's request to change the leader of Taiwan's team, Huang said.

  But many others among the team leaders were neither presidents or secretaries-general, he said.

  "The IPC's maneuvering is quite simply brutal," Huang added. "Is Taiwan a second-class member of the IPC?"

  Taiwan's team has sent a protest letter to the IPC and requested a response be made as soon as possible, Huang said.

  "We will of course not accept the GT card which the IPC offered to Wu. The cards are the lowest level of all VIP cards. It is just absurd that the IPC downgraded Wu's NPC card to a lowly GT card," he said.

  The Presidential Office said yesterday that Wu made an appearance at the Paralympics Athletes Village on Tuesday to boost the Taiwanese athletes' morale in her capacity "as leader of the Taiwan team."

  After the meeting, Wu visited an archeological museum in Athens in the afternoon.

  She hosted a dinner banquet for seven Greek congressmen at the hotel where she is staying, a press release said.
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