TAIWAN ENVOY CHANG LIANG-JEN'S FIRST PUBLIC APPEARANCE IN HONG KONG, 2001-02-05 (photo)

Chang Liang-jen (L), managing director of the Chung Hwa Travel Service which represents Taiwan's interests in Hong Kong, looks on February 5, 2001 during his first public appearance at a stamp exhibition after his arrival in the territory last Wednesday. As Taiwan's de facto envoy, Chang arrived here after a year-long dispute over his working visa and reportedly vowed that political issues would not be on his agenda. Relations between Hong Kong and Taiwan soured in 1999 after Chang's predecessor, Cheng An-kuo, defended former Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui's theory that the island had special state-to-state relations with mainland China. BY/DL