Diamonds a PR nightmare for Taiwan first lady

TAIPEI, Nov 10 (Reuters) Diamonds may be a girl's best friend, but they have become a public relations nightmare for Taiwan's first lady as she faces corruption charges.

Two diamond rings figure on a long list of items that Wu Shu-chen, wife of Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian, is alleged to have bought at taxpayers' expense, leading a government prosecutor to charge her with embezzlement and receipt forgery.

The list of 712 items drawn up by the prosecutor and made public, cost a total of T 14.8 million dollars.

It also includes a T 99,000 dollars restaurant bill, a T 76,000 dollars notebook, eight watches for a total of T$1.4 million dollars as well as Burberry, Gucci and Chanel luxury goods.

Wu has not made any public statements since the prosecutor announced she would be charged, but the president has said he would resign if his wife was found guilty of any wrongdoing.

The allegations of a spree using money from the loosely regulated state affairs fund has triggered a feeding frenzy in Taiwan's media, with pictures of designer brand goods splashed on front pages.

But it is the two diamond rings, one of which cost T 1.32 million dollars, that have newspapers and TV stations buzzing the most. The unanswered question: who might be wearing them? Chen was born to a peasant family in south Taiwan, while Wu -- who is paralysed from the waist down after being hit by a truck in 1985 -- also comes from modest roots.

''The only reason I can see that the media is fixated on the diamonds is that they are such a tangible and blatant symbol of wealth or even excess,'' said Don Rodgers, assistant political science professor at Austin College in the United States.

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