| TAIWANESE MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS GIVES FIRST TALK IN U.S. SINCE HIS INAUGURATION Salve This Week, 6.24.2004 NEWPORT, R.I. - Forbidden from his homeland for nearly three decades due to his pro-democracy stance, Tan Sun Chen persevered, returned to his native Taiwan and now serves as its Minister of Foreign Affairs. Chen, the Republic of China's Minister of Foreign Affairs in Taiwan, gave his first talk outside Taiwan since his April 16 inauguration when he visited Newport on Tuesday to honor and thank his longtime friend and supporter, retired Sen. Claiborne Pell. In a press conference at Newport's historic Redwood Library, Chen presented a Friendship Medal of Diplomacy to Sen. Pell and spoke on recent developments in Taiwan and the nation's evolving relationship with the United States. Chen's visit to Newport was coordinated by Salve Regina University's Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy, where Chen, Taiwanese leaders and Salve Regina administrators are laying the groundwork for partnered programming at the Pell Center. The Taiwanese minister was accompanied to Newport by a delegation of nine government officials from the Taiwanese Consulate in Boston. Members of the delegation had lunch with Sen. and Mrs. Pell, received a tour of Salve Regina and its Pell Center, and met with President M. Therese Antone. "My friendship with Sen. Pell is built on shared beliefs, especially our common belief in the universal values of democracy and human rights," Chen said. "It was these values that first brought us together to work for democratization in Taiwan." During the 1970s, when Taiwan was under the strong-handed government of single-party rule, Pell was instrumental in including language on human rights in the drafting of the Taiwan Relations Act, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. As chairman of the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee, Pell concentrated on Taiwan, urging the importance of Taiwanese people to be granted the right to shape their own destiny. Chen came to the U.S. in 1964, earning a master's degree from Oklahoma University in 1966 and a doctorate from Purdue University in 1972. He worked in the U.S. government, Department of Commerce, from 1973-1992. Banned from returning to Taiwan because of his pro-democratic political views, Chen served in the United States as chairman of the Taiwanese Association of America, chairman of the World Federation of Taiwanese Associations and chairman of the Formosan Association for Public Affairs. When martial law was lifted, Chen re-pledged his Taiwanese citizenship, returned home and was elected as magistrate of Tainan County. He also served as a member of the committee on Scientific Technology for the Office of the President, and later was elected to the Legislature. At the time of his inauguration as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chen outlined three principles to which he would hold his ministry: safeguarding the integrity of the nation's sovereignty, maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, and fulfilling Taiwan's duty as a member of the international community through stronger participation therein. |
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