Kaohsiung mayor to visit China May 21-24

Chen, who will be accompanied by Kaohsiung Deputy Mayor Lee Yung-te and Liu Shih-fang, a board member of the World Games 2009 Kaohsiung Organizing Committee, is hoping to promote the Kaohsiung World Games in China.

Neither Lee nor Liu have applied for Chinese entry permits, either.

Chen and her group are scheduled to board a direct charter flight to Beijing and if she manages to obtain entry to China in her capacity as mayor of Kaohsiung, she will be the highest-level incumbent official from the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to have set foot in the country.

Chen previously decided to visit Beijing May 20-22 to attend the Paris-based International Real Estate Federation's (FIABCI's) 60th World Congress.

Two public works projects that have been completed in the southern port city — the Heart of Love River bridge system and the Kaohsiung Central Park MRT Station — have been nominated by the FIABCI for the prestigious Prix d'Excellence Awards to be presented during the congress originally slated for May 18-23 in Beijing.

Chen's office canceled that trip Monday after the FIABCI announced earlier in the day that its world congress in Beijing would be suspended due to the global outbreak of swine flu, formally known as influenza A(H1N1).

Chen said Wednesday that if everything goes smoothly, she and her party will hold promotion workshops in Beijing and Shanghai.

She added that her office is also making arrangements for her to meet the mayors of Beijing and Shanghai.

“The trip must be carried out under the principles of equality and dignity,” she stressed.

“I hope this visit — in a pure nature of sports promotion — will be a smooth one without political interference,” she added.

The Southern Taiwan Society, a pro-independence activist group, issued a statement last week to express opposition to Chen's China visit, threatening that if she goes, the group will boycott her in the next mayoral election.

Chen said in response that she respects different voices from Taiwanese society, but added that Taiwan will continue to survive only if it can integrate with the rest of the world.

She said that if given the chance, she will let the Chinese authorities hear other Taiwanese voices rather than those from the ruling Kuomintang, which she argued do not represent the mainstream opinions of Taiwanese society.

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