離開
進入《TAIPEI TIMES》 Han to give seminar, not ‘speech’: researcher
Kaohsiung Information Bureau Director-General Anne Wang yesterday explains Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu’s US itinerary. Photo: Wang Jung-hsiang, Taipei Times
By Wang Jung-hsiang / Staff reporter
Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu （韓國瑜） has been invited to a closed-door seminar at Harvard University’s Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, not to give a speech as he has claimed, exiled Chinese dissident Wang Dan （王丹） said yesterday.
In response, the Kaohsiung City Government held a news conference, where it presented an invitation by the center asking Han to give a "closed-door briefing" on cross-strait relations to a select group of its faculty and students.
Wang is like a frog at the bottom of a well for making the accusation, the municipal government said.
Wang, a center researcher, on Tuesday said that he could not find any information about a planned speech by Han, adding that if the center does not publish such information, it means the event does not exist.
An invitation posted by the Kaohsiung Information Bureau is for Han to attend a closed-door seminar, which is normal at the center, but the mayor and his staff have insisted on calling it a speech, Wang said.
A Facebook group opposed to the Chinese National Party （KMT） also emphasized the closed-door nature of the invitation, saying that Han was “one of a kind.”
Netizens commented on the post that Han and his fans are shameless for exaggerating the significance of his ongoing visit to the US.
Others said that Han’s fans should pay for the 10-day trip, which began on Tuesday and is to cost NT$3 million （US$97,260）.
Han said that Wang should spend more time monitoring North Korean leader Kim Jong-un than minding Taiwanese affairs.
Han said: “We are glad to represent Kaohsiung in accepting the invitation from the Fairbank Center.”
“We will introduce Kaohsiung and conduct as many exchanges as possible,” he said. “We will make as many friends as we can.”
“The professors at the Fairbank Center have shown a keen interest in learning about the mayoral election in Kaohsiung, and we gladly accepted their invitation,” Han said.
“The trip to Harvard was set up before last month, so it is unnecessary to associate it with any other possible reasons for a visit,” he said, referring to speculation that he is using the occasion to further a potential bid for next year’s presidential election.
Han compared his US trip to “a lion trying to catch a rabbit,” saying that it would require his full concentration, because he is introducing Kaohsiung and Taiwan to academics at the center.
This story has been updated since it was first published.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
%http://www.taipeitimes.com/
