Taipei, Oct. 28 (CNA) President Chen Shui-bian expressed his heartfelt gratitude to Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara Thursday, saying that Ishihara's assistance in promoting Taiwan's new tourist train is "priceless."
During a meeting with Ishihara at the Presidential Office, Chen also apologized for what he described as "wrongful accusations" against the Tokyo governor by some opposition politicians and pro-unification radicals.
Ishihara was a guest of honor on the maiden journey of the Taiwan Railway Administration's (TRA's) premium-class "Formosa Star" tourist train from Taipei to the eastern counties of Hualien and Taitung Tuesday, at a time when normal passenger train services on the route were still suspended because of damage caused by Typhoon Nock-Ten a day earlier. Opposition lawmakers blamed the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) for granting "special privileges" to Ishihara. "I feel regret that you have been wronged, " Chen told his guest, adding: "There have been some abnormal phenomena in Taiwan society these days. Foreign friends who truly support Taiwan are often stigmatized and for this I feel sadness and regret."
Chen said some countries have spent large sums of money inviting popular fashion models to spearhead their tourism promotion programs. "What a precious gift Ishihara has given us. He traveled to Taiwan to help promote our country as a new tourist paradise. Without spending a dime, we got such a heavyweight spokesman for our new tourist train," Chen said.
Noting that Japan has been battered by a typhoon and a series of earthquakes in recent days, Chen said that Ishihara honored his promise to visit Taiwan as scheduled. "We appreciate your true friendship and we take pride in having a friend like you, " Chen told Ishihara.
In Taiwan, Chen said, diehard pro-unification and pro-China supporters in Taiwan like to wrong foreigners who support Taiwan's independent sovereign status. Similarly, the international community does not recognize Taiwan's sovereignty and has not treated the 23 million Taiwan people fairly, he added.
For his part, Ishihara said he did not care about the wrongful accusations against him, brushing them aside lightheartedly as "probably just a ploy to get a bit of media hype."