Sun, Sep 19, 2004 page3

• Wu expresses her hopes for fairness at future Games

  HUMILIATED The first lady slammed the KMT's choice of the `Chinese Taipei' designation and asked for fairness in future Olympic competitions

  • By Huang Tai-lin / STAFF REPORTER
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  In an interview with the international press in Athens, first lady Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) said it is humiliating for Taiwan to use the name "Chinese Taipei" at the Olympic Games, which forbid the nation from using its national anthem and flag.

  Expressing disapproval of the former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government's decision to call the nation "Chi-nese Taipei" at the Games, Wu said she would never have agreed to it if she had been in charge. The joint interview was attended by representatives from the BBC, AFP and La Libre Belgique, among others.

  Wu said it is unreasonable that Taiwanese are not allowed to sing their national anthem and raise their national flag like other countries at the Games. Wu said she hoped the unfair regulation would one day be revoked to enable Taiwan athletes to sing their national anthem during the Games.

  Dismissing suggestions that her holding a National Paralympic Committee (NPC) card was intended to provoke China, Wu said that her decision to lead the Taiwan Paralympic delegation was to fulfill a promise she made last October.

  Wu referred to her words when meeting with the Taiwan delegation for the 2003 World Wheelchair Games last year, during which athletes expressed hope that she could head this delegation to this year's Paralympics. Wu agreed immediately, noting that her physical status should qualify her for the position.

  Presidential Office Secre-tary-General Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday lauded Wu asf carrying out "best citizen diplomacy."

  "Via interviews with international press, the first lady let Taiwan's voice be heard in the international arena and allowed the world to see Taiwan's remarkable achievements," Su said.

  Wu attended the judo event yesterday to cheer for two players from Team Taiwan, Lee Ching-chung (李青忠) and Lee Ching-cheng (李青正), who are brothers and made it to the final four.

  On Friday night, Wu attended the opening ceremony of the 2004 Athens Paralympic Games in her capacity as the head of the Taiwan delegation using her NPC card, the highest-level official pass for the event.

  Wu, on the advice of accompanying staff and doctors, took a seat in the VIP zone during the opening ceremony instead of her original plan to lead the Team Taiwan in the parade around the arena. Wu was paralyzed from the waist down after being hit by a truck in an assassination attempt in 1985.

  According to delegation spokesman James Huang (黃志芳), deputy secretary-general of the Presidential Office, Wu chatted with several foreign dignitaries at the occasion.

  "The first lady had a pleasant exchange with the vice president of the Republic of Iran. They exchanged views on the experience of promoting sports events for the physically-challenged," Huang said. He added that International Paralympic Committee (IPC) president Philip Craven of Sweden had wanted to introduce Sweden's queen to Wu, but the meeting did not happen because Wu had to enter the VIP zone.

  Given that Deng Pufang (鄧樸方), the son of China's late leader Deng Xiaoping (鄧小平), is the president of the China Disabled Persons Federation and the head of China's delegation to the Paralympic Games, Taiwan's media watched closely to see whether there would be any interaction between Wu and Deng.

  While such interaction didn't take place Friday night, Huang said that a Chinese representative had seen Wu and a brief greeting took place.
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