President Jiang on Taiwan and WTO Issues
China will by no means abandon the use of force if there occurs "Taiwan independence" or foreign intervention, visiting Chinese President Jiang Zemin said Wednesday in Sydney, Australia.
The Taiwan issue is purely China's internal affairs and China's policy on this issue is "peaceful reunification" and the principle of "one country, two systems", stressed Jiang in a joint press conference with Australian Prime Minister John Howard following their official talks in the morning.
He answered questions raised by reporters, and explained China' s principled stance on the Taiwan issue and China's entry into the World Trade Organization.
He stated that there was once a good momentum in the cross- straits exchanges and Chairman Wang Daohan of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits had originally planned to visit Taiwan this fall.
However, Lee Teng-hui brazenly made the "two states" remarks, Jiang said, which will by no means be accepted or allowed by the 1. 2 billion Chinese people.
Jiang meanwhile noted that the Taiwan issue is a very sensitive issue in the Sino-US relations.
After Lee made the "two states" remarks, Jiang said, US President Bill Clinton had time and again assured him that the US government would adhere to the "one China" policy, abide by the three joint communiques between the US and China, and adopt the "three-no" policy
But at the same time, the US announced sales of advanced weapons to Taiwan that were valued at 550 million US dollars, Jiang said, adding that the Chinese people can by no means understand this.
Commenting on the US proposal that it hopes Wang Daohan would visit Taiwan as scheduled, Jiang said that Wang's visit will not come true unless the following two preconditions are met: one is that Lee openly withdraws his "two states" remarks, and the other is that Lee could only receive Wang in his capacity as the Chairman of the Kuomintang, instead of the so-called "President of the Republic of China".
Jiang also expounded China's principled stand on China' s access to the World Trade Organization (WTO).
At a joint press conference with Australian Prime Minister John Howard after their meeting, Jiang said he talked with US President Bill Clinton on the question of restoring the lawful seat of China in GATT, now called the WTO, during his meeting with Clinton at the first informal meeting of leaders of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in Seattle of the United States, in 1993.
Jiang said: "I expounded three principles at the time, which now remain applicable. Firstly, the WTO will not be comprehensive without the entry of China, the largest developing country in the world, since it is an international organization. Secondly, China can only join the WTO as a developing country. Thirdly, there should be a balance between China's rights and duties for its entry into the organization."
Jiang said that the Chinese embassy in Yugoslavia was bombed on May 8 this year, and three Chinese were killed in the bombing. " The US government and President Clinton personally apologized to us again and again. Nevertheless, the timing then was totally inappropriate for the US government to request that talks between China and the United States on China's access to the WTO continue. And therefore, the talks were suspended."
Jiang said the United States has kept sending messages requesting the resumption of talks with China since August. " Recently, President Clinton wrote to me specially, on the question of resumption of such talks. And I agreed in my reply. Thus, the talks started again," Jiang said.
Jiang said some reports in Western media have alleged that it is China that is eager to resume talks with the United States. " This is not the fact," Jiang said.
Jiang also said that he will attend the informal meeting of the leaders of APEC, to be held in Auckland of New Zealand in a few days, and is expected to meet President Clinton during the meeting.
"I think that China and the United States should proceed with talks according to the principle of equality and mutual benefit," Jiang said.
He said that during his visit to the United States in 1997 and Clinton's visit to China in 1998, the two countries had originally planned to solve the question concerning China's entry into the WTO.
However, the issue was not discussed, because of the reasons reportedly lying with the US Congress, he said.
Jiang said that the United States again lost a good opportunity this spring when Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji visited the United States. At the time, the two countries could have reached an agreement, and again, the reasons for the failure to reach an agreement reportedly lay with the Congress, Jiang said.
"Now, an agreement has been reached between China and Australia on China's entry into the WTO. How the talks between China and the United States will proceed and whether or not an agreement can be reached depends, to a large extent, on the United States." Jiang said.
WorldNews 1999-09-09 Page1
Copyright by People's Daily Online
Email:English@peopledaily.com.cn
| 
