On May 14, President Chen Shui-bian attended a ceremony to mark the completion of the renovation of the Taipei Guest House, citing the beauty of the House and celebrating Mother's Day with the participants.
Taipei was already the capital of Taiwan during the Japanese occupation, and is a city that has many historic relics. When the president was the mayor of Taipei, he introduced the policies to restore the images of the capital. "Following the completion of the renovation of the Presidential Building, the National Taiwan Museum, and the Taipei Guest House," the president said, "we have moved one more step toward building Taipei as a city abundant with historic and humanist features."
This was not the first time the Taipei Guest House was under renovation. It was built with Renaissance style in 1901 under the Japanese colonization, and was designated as the residence for the Taiwan governor-general. In 1913, the residence was renovated for the first time and, after the renovation, it was transformed to the Baroque style.
The Taipei Guest House regained its public attention in recent years for it has been the venue where Taiwan's presidents met with important foreign guests. President Chen has met with several world leaders at the Taipei Guest House, including former US President Bill Clinton, former South Korean President Kim Young-sam, former Singaporean Prime Minister Kee Kuan Yew, former Philippine President Fidel Ramos, and former Honduras President Ricardo Maduro.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, organizer of the ceremony, particularly chose Mother's Day for this event, to which Mothers of the Year and their children were invited. Before he concluded the ceremony, the president said that the Taipei Guest House is of course a public asset, and in the future the government will give the public more access to it.