WORLD : Radio Ship Forced to Alter Plans

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Organizers of the Goddess of Democracy radio ship said today that the vessel will leave Taiwan for Japan because Taipei thwarted their mission to beam pro-democracy broadcasts to China.

In an emotional news conference, the ship’s sponsors blamed Taiwan and the United States for delaying their project and pleaded for help in their effort to commemorate Beijing’s bloody crackdown on pro-democracy student protests last June.

“We still hope we can broadcast before the 4th of June anniversary of the Tian An Men massacre,” said Nicolas Druz, chairman of the Boat for China Assn.

Its plans in disarray, the Goddess will leave Taiwan without Chinese dissidents originally scheduled to participate in the project and without an all-important radio transmitter, which organizers say is crucial to their bid to broadcast to China’s billion people.