President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁)
was welcomed on his first overnight stop in San Francisco Tuesday by
dignitaries, supporters and red-clad opponents on the first leg of a
state visit to Nicaragua to attend the January 10 inauguration of
Nicaraguan President-elect Daniel Ortega. The
chartered China Airlines Boeing 747-400, carrying the president and his
entourage of staffers, government officials, county chiefs,
entrepreneurs and reporters, landed at San Francisco International
Airport just before 2 p.m. January 8 after a 10 hour and 15 minute
flight from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.
Chen was met at the
airport by American Institute in Taiwan Chairman Raymond Burkardt,
Taiwan representative in Washington D.C. David Lee and other Taiwan
government officials and was promptly whisked away in a motorcade to
the city's plush St. Regis Hotel.
According to a report by the
Central News Agency, over 500 Taiwanese bused in for the occasion
welcomed Chen at the hotel by waving flags and shouting "Go A-bian!"
A
small group of red-clad opponents of the president, led by Chiang Fang
Chih-yi (蔣方智怡), the daughter-in-law of late President Chiang Ching-kuo
(蔣經國), also greeted Chen with placards reading "Impeach A-bian" and
other similar slogans near the hotel, but the two groups were kept
separated by police and there were no reports of violence.
Shortly after
his arrival at the St. Regis, Chen had a small dinner there with about
15 leaders of the Taiwanese community in San Francisco and personal
friends and was also expected to meet with some U.S. politicians
besides the AIT chairman, but presidential aides declined to provide
further details due to an agreement with Washington that Chen's
activities during the transit stop would not be made public.
My dad was one of the people invited to have dinner wit the President. I think it's awesome. Unfortunately he doesn't have any pictures with him. One news article says "leaders of the Taiwanese community in San Francisco and personal
friends" and another says "mostly professionals from California who back Taiwan's independence
from mainland China." I think it is the latter for my dad.
