Taipei, Sept. 22 (CNA) President Chen Shui-bian tried Wednesday to boost the morale of a junior high student whose painting was selected by the United Nations as one of the designs for its International Day of Peace stamp but later rejected under pressure from mainland China.
During a meeting with 13-year-old Yang Chih-yuan, Chen said he was very impressed with the boy's creative painting, which depicts the contrast between war and peace with images of tanks and doves, and that it is regrettable that the design was replaced just because the national flag of the Republic of China happened to be on it.
Chen said the unfair treatment by the U.N. has angered the people of Taiwan and they feel discriminated against.
In an effort to uphold freedom of arts and creativity, Chen said Taiwan has used the painting for its own International Day of Peace stamp of Peace stamp. The stamp was issued Tuesday and will be seen wherever a letter is sent around the world.
The president urged Yang not to be discouraged by the incident but to keep on with his good work and stick to his artist philosophy.
Yang's painting was one of 24 winners of a poster competition sponsored by the Lions Clubs International and was shortlisted by the U.N. as one of eight designs to be used on a stamp to commemorate the International Day of Peace on Sept. 21.
In an attempt to refute Taiwan's claim that the design was screened out at the last minute as a result of a protest from mainland China, the United Nations Postal Administration released a statement saying that the design was not adopted because it "did not make the final six."