CNN stresses no intention to humiliate Taiwan vice president

Mar 9, 2007, 12:31 GMT

Taipei - The US-based Cable News Network (CNN) has assured Taiwan's Vice President Annette Lu that it had no intention to humiliate her in a controversial news report that has irked the island, Lu's office said Friday.

In a letter sent to Lu, CNN Vice President Christopher Cramer said CNN never had any intention to degrade Taiwan or insult her, according to her office in a press statement.

CNN admitted that it should not have used part of the content of the US-based Associated Press (AP) report as the headline, and immediately changed it and explained why there was such a change, her office said.

The controversy erupted Tuesday when Lu held a news conference to declare she would run for president in the 2008 election.

The AP news agency filed a story on Lu's candidacy, saying in the lead that she was branded by China as 'insane' and 'the scum of the nation,' and said in the third paragraph that Lu's chances of winning were slim.

CNN carried the AP story on its website, but used its own headline 'Taiwan's 'scum of the nation' runs for president,' triggering an immediate protest from Lu's office.

Lu said that the CNN story had insulted her and the Taiwan people. She demanded an apology and a correction and did not rule out seeking damages.

CNN later changed its headline to 'Lu seeks to be first Taiwan woman president,' but did not apologize.

Lu also sent a protest letter Wednesday to the AP, demanding an apology and a correction within 48 hours.

AP's headquarters in New York expressed regret on Thursday over the issue and instructed its Taipei bureau to conduct an interview with Lu - and let Lu 'say all she wants to say' - to produce balanced reporting, Lu told reporters.

In an interview Wednesday with the cable TV channel TVBS, Lu said she could not understand why AP was using words that China used to blast her in 2002, calling the report 'unacceptable' and 'unforgivable.'

In Taiwan, the controversy has exploded into a political incident, with Taiwan leaders and some lawmakers accusing certain foreign reporters of siding with China and using China's words to insult Taiwan leaders.

On Thursday, Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian criticized AP and CNN for the 'biased' story on Lu.

Speaking at a dinner party for foreign envoys, Chen said that two foreign news outlets adopted China's unobjective terminology and used 'rude and irresponsible words' in the headline of their story.

'I believe that any professional media group would not quote Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's words to criticize or attack US President George W Bush, and use Chavez's words as the headline. But such an unfortunate thing has happened to Vice President Lu,' Chen said.

Some Taiwanese lawmakers demanded that the government deport the AP reporter, identified as Lee Min, who filed the story.

But both Lu and government spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang Friday said it would be improper to do so as would undermine press freedom in Taiwan.

'Taiwan is a country which respects the rule of law. Unless the reporter violates the Taiwanese law, we should still respect his rights here,' Lu said.

Lu, 62, a former dissident, human-rights activist and lawmaker, has in the past angered China by openly declaring that Taiwan and China are two countries, and by condemning Beijing's missile threats against Taiwan as 'terrorism.' Her comments prompted China's Taiwan expert Liu Jiayan to brand her the 'scum of the nation' in a 2002 article.

But at home and abroad, Lu is widely lauded as a firm advocate of Taiwan's sovereignty and an outspoken defender of human and women's rights.