By Lin Chieh-yu
Deputy Secretary-General of the Presidential Office Joseph Wu said yesterday that over 15 heads of state of Taiwan’s allies and 70 delegations from other countries, including over 400 international guests, will attend the presidential and vice presidential inauguration ceremony next Thursday, which will be Taiwan’s biggest gathering of heads of state and the biggest state ceremony in Taiwan’s history.
The presidential office yesterday held a press conference to brief reporters in detail on arrangements for the event.
Wu stressed that the delegations of each country were senior to and greater in number than those of four years ago, indicating that President Chen Shui-bian’s and Vice President Annette Lu’s second term in office was not only being recognized, but is also regarded as important by the international community, which was accordingly extending its affirmation and a high degree of trust.
Wu said that the heads of state attending this year would include, among others, the king of Swaziland, the presidents of Burkina Faso, Gambia, Nicaragua and Panama, Paraguay, and the prime ministers of Belize and of the Solomon Islands.
As far as the arrangements of the itineraries for the foreign visitors were concerned, the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs department in charge of receiving foreign guests said that since most of the heads of state are not visiting Taiwan for the first time, there will be no formal military reception or send-off except in the case of the president of Paraguay, who will be visiting Taiwan for the first time since taking office. The Paraguayan president will therefore receive a military send-off, with Chen in attendance, on May 24.
Wu said that although the US has not yet named the head of its delegation, Frank Murkowski, Governor of Alaska, had confirmed that he would be sending a delegation to Taiwan.
Three former heads of the American Institute in Taiwan would also attend, as would the directors of various US think tanks.
Presidential Office Spokesman James Huang expanded Wu’s comments, saying that California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger had written to the president at the end of March to congratulate Chen and Lu on winning a second term in office and stressed that he intended to strengthen all areas of cooperation between California and Taiwan.
“Governor Schwarzenegger expressed his willingness to attend President Chen’s inauguration. However, due to the busy schedule of state affairs, he has to designate Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante as his representative to lead a delegation to visit Taiwan,” said Huang.
Wu said that Canada and 10 other countries from the Americas would be sending delegations.
There would be 15 delegations from East and Southeast Asia, while three countries from western Asia — Russia, Israel and Turkey — will also send delegations and that 10 European countries were sending 13 delegations between them, mostly made up of legislators.
He also said that an invitation had been extended to the Tibetan Government in Exile, and the Dalai Lama has promised to send a delegation to Taiwan.
