President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was kept busy during his 17-hour transit stop in San Francisco en route to Nicaragua as he spoke with several members of the US Congress.
Some Congress members expressed a desire to travel to California to meet Chen in person, but said they were prevented from doing so by a tight legislative schedule in the Capitol imposed by the new Democratic leadership.
Among the congressional leaders Chen spoke with was new Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada. Chen called Reid on Monday evening, after touching down in San Francisco from Taipei, Reid's office confirmed.
PHOTO: CHIEN JUNG-FENG, TAIPEI TIMES
While Reid refused to go into the details of their discussion, his office said that "the president congratulated Senator Reid on becoming Senate Majority [Leader] and on the election results" that put the Democrats in control of Congress.
Tom Lantos, the new chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee (formerly the International Relations Committee), telephoned Chen on Monday evening, Lantos' office confirmed. Lantos, a California representative, had wanted to meet Chen personally in San Francisco but was unable to do so because of congressional demands, Lantos' office said.
Relationship
While his office could not give details of the conversation, Lantos' press secretary, Lynne Weil, told the Taipei Times that "since they have had a long-standing relationship, it was not anything particularly new. But since the president was in the country, Tom had wanted to be there to see him, but he had to be in Washington at the time."
Among other members of Congress who spoke with Chen was Florida Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a long-time member of the Congressional Taiwan Caucus and a leading supporter of Taiwan in Congress. She was recently named the ranking Republican member of the Foreign Affairs Committee.
Caucus co-chairman Dana Rohrabacher of California was enroute to Washington when Chen arrived and plans to speak with him by telephone today.
Chen is scheduled to make a stopover in Los Angeles on his way back from Nicaragua to Taipei, a spokeswoman for Rohrabacher said.
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