Ganni na, as the president of a group of people, he end up losing face unnecessarily
"Zhi Ji Na Nian Lai Diu" (Ownself Bring Face To Lose)
Xia Suay!
TAIPEI: Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian has denied he asked Hewlett-Packard chairwoman and CEO Carly Fiorina to serve as a messenger to Beijing.
"The president has never asked and doesn't need to ask any corporation or individual to serve as a messenger on his behalf," his office said in a brief statement.
It was widely reported here that Chen suggested Fiorina convey Taiwan's wish to start immediate negotiations with China on direct charter passenger and cargo flights during a meeting on Friday.
"It is a very serious issue for both sides across the (Taiwan) Strait and it also concerns mutual international interests," Chen said in a statement released Friday.
Chen urged Fiorina to "express to Beijing and lobby for the support of the United States in accordance with this principle."
Local reports said Fiorina told the president she was not suitable for such a role and her company issued a statement late Friday to reaffirm her stance.
"The purpose of her (Fiorina's) visit in Taiwan is to meet with our customers and she believes that businesses should stick to business and leave politics to politicians," the statement said.
Taiwan has stepped up its efforts to push for cross-strait charter air services after Chen called for wide-ranging peace talks with China in his National Day speech last week to ease rising tensions between the two rivals.
His proposals were met by a sharp rebuke from Beijing, which warned the Taiwan leader against risking "great catastrophe" by pushing for independence.
Air and sea exchanges between Taiwan and China are routed through Hong Kong, Macau or other ports under a ban imposed more than five decades ago when the two sides split in 1949 after a civil war.
Limited direct exchanges, known as the "mini-links," were opened in 2002 between Xiamen and other selected ports in China's southeastern Fujian province and Taiwan's offshore Kinmen and Matsu islands amid expanding civilian ties.
After what he did in the last election (Publicly pro-independent, privately send a messenger to PRC to say otherwise and then later end up denying any promises to PRC), no one (especially PRC) will trust him anymore.