Taipei, May 18 (CNA) President Chen Shui-bian received Betty Williams, the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize winner from Northern Ireland Tuesday, and thanked her for coming to Taiwan to attend his May 20 inauguration for a second four-year term.
During the meeting, Chen also invited Williams to take part in a second Democratic Pacific Assembly (DPA) that is being organized by Vice President Annette Lu and is scheduled to be held in Taiwan in August.
Chen told his guest that Lu has already organized a world peace conference in Taiwan and added that he will be happy to see similar conferences held in the near future.
Noting that Taiwan is a peace-, democracy- and freedom-loving country that has spared no efforts to safeguard human rights, the president said that the 23 million people of Taiwan are willing to share their experience in these four aspects with the rest of the world.
For her part, Williams accepted Chen's invitation to attend the Democratic Pacific Assembly and disclosed that she suggested to Lu that a second world peace conference be convened in Taipei, with former USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev and other world-renowned political leaders invited to attend the event.
She also extended congratulations to Chen for his re-election, saying that she predicted prior to the March 20 election that Chen and his running mate would succeed in their re-election bid.
Williams, who came to Taiwan to observe the bitterly contested presidential race at Lu's invitation, added that she was deeply shocked by the election-eve shooting of Chen and Lu.
Earlier in the day, Williams also met with the vice president to exchange views on issues of mutual concern.