President Chen received this morning Mr. Peter Kramer, Secretary-General of the European Press Association, and members of his chapter. The President expressed his sincere welcome to their visit to Taiwan on behalf of the government and people of the Republic Of China (Taiwan).
President Chen said as he assumed his presidency in 2000 he has made improvement on human rights his primary goal. In the past five years, the government has implemented policies and measures to further protect press freedom. The President illustrated Taiwan's achievement saying that a world press freedom report released by the Press Association Sans Frontier on October 9 this year ranks Taiwan's press freedom No.51, up nine places compared with last year's performance. Some 167 countries were included in the survey. The President cited another report on world press freedom conducted by the United States that has included 194 countries worldwide saying that Taiwan ranks No.44, up six places compared with the previous year. He said the two reports demonstrated the fact that like Europe and the U.S., Taiwan also is now a country of press freedom.
President Chen asked the European Press Association to take advantages of its influences and help Taiwan in three aspects. First, the President urged the association to dissuade countries of the European Union from lifting arms sales embargo against China so peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait can be maintained. The EU countries have exercised sanction against China since the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989, however, the human rights record in China has never improved. It has beefed up military might instead, intensifying tension in the Asia Pacific region. Secondly, given the fact that the Taiwanese press was barred from entering the convention center of World Health Organization meetings in 2004 and 2005, the President hoped the European Press Association to render support for Taiwanese journalists and to respect their right to cover world events as they happen. Thirdly, President Chen called on his European guests to back Taiwan's bid to become an observer of the WHO, saying that Taiwan's efforts in this aspect has gained world recognition as an international risk assessment company recently ranked Taiwan, along with Japan and Australia, as countries that have done the best of the prevention work against avian influenza. The President said that Taiwan's performance in the field of public hygiene has been outstanding, and it has demonstrated the capability to do excellent research and development in terms of drugs and vaccines. Taiwan's involvement in the world avian flu prevention network would therefore serve the interest of the international society, he said.