Taipei, Feb. 12 (CNA) President Chen Shui-bian said Wednesday that he admires the courage shown by Nigerian Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka in his fight for human rights and liberty.
Chen made the remarks in a meeting with Soyinka, winner of the 1986 Nobel Prize in literature, who was invited to Taipei to attend the 2003 Taipei International Book Exhibition.
The president said that 1986, when Soyinka won the Nobel Prize, was also an important year for Chen because it was he was jailed for what he described as his pursuit of freedom of speech.
According to Chen, Soyinka is also a pursuer of justice. In 1965, Soyinka broke into a radio station and put a gun to the head of the broadcaster, demanding that he broadcast the real results of a recent election, as the broadcaster had been obligated to announce a phony victory of the ruling party. Consequently, Soyinka was detained.
In 1967, Soyinka was jailed again as a political prisoner. In his cell, Soyinka wrote poems on tissue paper and cartons that later won him the Nobel Prize.
Soyinka showed a keen interest in Taiwan's political situation and in cross-Taiwan Strait ties before he came to Taiwan, but said after his arrival that he did not feel the atmosphere to be as tense as he had imagined it would be.
He said he also noticed that following the transfer of political power, Taiwan now shows pluralism in many aspects, which he attributed to the efforts of the new government.
Chen quoted the first Chinese Nobel laureate in literature, Gao Xingjian, who said that he had been able to present his drama "Snow in August" only because of the environment Taiwan offers.