President Chen Shui-bian's (
The teleconference will be held on July 26. Chen will be the first Taiwanese head of state to speak to FCCJ members.
Chen will be able to address a broad range of international media outlets since Tokyo is a media hub to which reporters from all over the globe are stationed, Huang said.
According to a statement posted by the FCCJ on its Web site, the teleconference has tentatively been scheduled to run for one and a half hours, from 11:30am to 1pm local time in Japan. During the event, Chen will give a speech, take questions on Taiwan's relations with Japan, China and other countries and discuss prospects for Taiwan's development.
Chen's speech will take place against the backdrop of the recent fishing row between Taiwanese fishing boats and Japanese coast guard vessels in disputed waters, and so local media have speculated that the conflict will be high on reporters' agenda.
However, given that a formal round of Taiwan-Japan fishery talks has been scheduled to be held in Tokyo three days after Chen's teleconference, sources said it is unlikely that the president will touch upon that subject in his address.
The teleconference will be his third such event with an overseas group.
The first took place last September when Chen addressed the UN Correspondents Association. That video conference coincided with the commencement of the 59th UN General Assembly plenary session. During the one-hour event, Chen shared with the international press Taiwan's appeal to join the world body.
The second such conference took place this March with members of the European Parliament. In that event, Chen made a strong case against China's proposed "Anti-Secession" Law and urged the EU to apply more rigorous standards when considering lifting the arms embargo on China to maintain the military balance in the Asia-Pacific region.
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