DATE=3/18/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=TAIWAN - CHEN WINS (L-UPDATE)
NUMBER=2-260318
BYLINE=ROGER WILKISON
DATELINE=TAIPEI
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
/// EDS: Updates 2-260315 new throughout
///
INTRO: Opposition candidate Chen Shui-bian has been
elected president of Taiwan despite warnings from
China that voters should reject the one-time advocate
of formal independence for the island. V-O-A
correspondent Roger Wilkison reports Mr. Chen won 39
percent of the vote and immediately offered to engage
in what he called a constructive dialogue with China.
TEXT: In a post-election statement at his Democratic
Progressive Party's headquarters, Mr. Chen said China
and Taiwan have a common ancestry and can open a new
era of peace through increased exchanges across the
Taiwan Strait.
He says he wants to open direct trade, transportation
and postal links with China, which were banned by the
long-ruling Nationalist Party he has now ousted from
power after more than 50 years of rule.
And he has invited Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji and
China's top negotiator on Taiwan, Wang Daohan, to
visit the island.
But China is likely to be skeptical of Mr. Chen's
overtures. Mr. Zhu warned Taiwanese voters this week
not to choose Mr. Chen or risk never being able to
vote again. What riles Beijing is that, despite Mr.
Chen's backing away from his past pro-independence
stance, his party's platform still contains a clause
that says Taiwan should eventually go its own way.
Still, his assertion that cross-strait dialogue will
be a priority of his administration puts the shoe on
Beijing's foot (EDS: leaves the next move up to
China). China has long wanted to open direct links
with the island it considers a wayward province.
In a remark that is not likely to win him any friends
in Beijing, Mr. Chen said Taiwan provides a role model
in that it is a democracy where a long-ruling party
can be overturned at the polls by the opposition. The
image of fed-up voters tossing out a long-entrenched
political force at the ballot box makes China's
leaders uncomfortable.
Mr. Chen's victory exceeded even the most optimistic
expectations of his party, in what is being seen as a
defiance of Chinese threats. He triumphed over
independent candidate James Soong, who got 37 percent
of the vote, and Nationalist contender Lien Chan, who
received 23 percent.
But Mr. Chen's win is expected to usher in a period of
uncertainty. He will have to reach out to his former
foes at home to build a coalition that can get his
reforms and his cross-strait policies approved by the
Nationalist-dominated legislature. Mr. Chen says he
will convene an all-party commission to hammer out a
consensus on cross-strait relations. (signed)
NEB/RW/JP
18-Mar-2000 09:53 AM EDT (18-Mar-2000 1453 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
|
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list
|
|
|
