Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian is hoping to make a low-key stopover in Miami next week on his way to a five-nation tour, but US lawmakers intend to use the occasion to present him with a human rights award.
Presidential spokesman Chen Wen-tsung declined to confirm whether Mr Chen would accept the award from the Congressional Human Rights Caucus.
But he stressed the stopovers, in Miami on Tuesday and in San Francisco on his way back on September 29 and October 1, would remain low key as part of an understanding between Taipei and Washington.
Mr Chen will leave Taipei on Tuesday for a five-nation Central American and Caribbean tour, arriving in Guatemala where he is expected to sign a free-trade agreement. Mr Chen will then fly to the Dominican Republic on September 23, and two days later to Nicaragua, where he will attend a summit with Central American allies. He will head for Saint Christopher and Nevis on September 27 and to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines on September 28.
Taiwanese media reported that Mr Chen originally planned his visit to coincide with the UN assembly, which President Hu Jintao is attending, and asked to transit through New York, but the request was turned down by Washington for fear of upsetting Beijing. Presidential deputy secretary-general James Huang Chih-fang said the reports were groundless.
The reports also said that because of Mr Chen's visit, Washington asked former president Lee Teng-hui to postpone his trip to the United States. Mr Huang also dismissed the reports as inaccurate, saying there was no link between the visits.
