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MAC ISSUES POSITION PAPER ON `ONE SIDE, ONE COUNTRY' (I)

Aug 07, 2002 19:48 UTC+0800

Taipei, Aug. 7 (CNA)¡@The nation's formulator of mainland China policy issued a position paper Wednesday on President Chen Shui-bian's controversial "one side, one country" statement made last Saturday.

Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) officials noted that Chen's remarks have triggered heated debate and various interpretations, and said the position paper is an attempt to clarify what it described as "some distortions and misinterpretations."

The position paper says that when Chen said Taiwan will "go its own way," he was referring to the "road of democracy, freedom and human rights and peace" and that the universal values of democracy, freedom and human rights will also be the roads that Taiwan must tread.

"Any interpretation that goes beyond such meaning is not the true intention of the president," it says, adding that it would be wrong to interpret the words as regressing to the "Taiwan independence platform" of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, in which President Chen also concurrently serves as party chairman. The platform was later replaced by a resolution on the future of Taiwan in a 1999 party congress.

In other words, the paper says, Chen wants to highlight that there is a differentiation between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait in terms of democracy, freedom, human rights and peace.

On Chen's statement: "Let's make it clear, there is one country on each side of the Taiwan Strait," the position paper says that he is referring to the fact that Taiwan is an independent sovereign country. Chen has never denied that the People's Republic of China is a country, but the ROC and PRC are independent of each other, which is the reality of the situation, the paper says.

It continues that this is why Chen said last Saturday that Taiwan does not belong to the PRC -- "It is not a part, or a local government, or a province of others" -- which is historical reality. Chen's reaffirmation of the situation was to stress to the international community that as an "independent sovereign state," the ROC cannot be downgraded, localized or marginalized, the paper says.

The president was trying to clearly state that he wants to defend Taiwan's status quo, so he seriously urged the Taiwan people to prevent or avoid the status quo being changed.

For the 23 million people of Taiwan, Beijing's insistence on imposing its "one country, two systems" model on Taiwan is a move that would change Taiwan's status quo, a situation that the Taiwan people will never accept, the paper says.

It says that only the people of Tiawan have the right to decide the country's future and that a plebiscite to decide its fate would best serve basic human rights and democracy. If Beijing wants to force Taiwan to change its status quo, the Taiwan people should be able to express their views through plebiscite, the paper says.

It also says that Chen's basic stance toward cross-strait relations remains basically unchanged and adds that the government will continue its open attitude toward cross-strait trade and related policies.

The paper points out that although Chen promised his inaugural "five noes," if Beijing continues to step up its military deployment and pose a great threat to Taiwan's security, then as the guardian of the ROC Constitution and the defender of the ROC's national interests, he will have to adopt effective preventive measures.

(to be continued)

(By Lilian Wu)