• Military

• WMD Menu                           

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

REFERENDUM PLAN TALLIES WITH U.S. VALUES: PRESIDENT

2003-12-11 19:24:32

    Taipei, Dec. 11 (CNA) President Chen Shui-bian said Thursday that the United States should support Taiwan's drive to consolidate its young democracy and should push Beijing to publicly renounce the use of force against Taiwan. "In line with its founding spirit, the United States should support our pursuit of full democracy and demand that mainland China remove the missiles it has deployed against Taiwan and renounce the use of force against Taiwan, " Chen said during a meeting with Scott Horton, president of the New York-based International League for Human Rights.

    Chen has faced intense pressure from Taiwan's most important friend -- the United States -- since he announced late last month that he wants to hold a "defensive referendum" on the day of the next presidential election on March 20, 2004 to demand that Beijing stop pointing hundreds of missiles at Taiwan.

    American officials have said the referendum could raise the risk of conflict with the mainland, which claims sovereignty over Taiwan. U.S. President George W. Bush said Tuesday that he opposes any moves that might disrupt the delicate status quo in Taiwan-China relations.

    Chen took advantage of his meeting with Horton to defend the referendum plan, stressing that it is in line with America's democratic values, which should allow voters to express opinions about threats.

    Since referendum is a universal value and a basic human right, Chen asked why the Taiwan people should be singled out to be denied the right to hold such a vote as part of its drive to be free from a missile threat.

    He stressed that the planned referendum on demanding Beijing remove missiles aimed at Taiwan and renounce the use of force against Taiwan is designed to preserve Taiwan's present status as an independent sovereign state. "We have no intention of changing our status quo. We instead want to maintain the status quo characterized by peace, democracy, freedom and human rights. We'll do whatever we can to prevent it from being changed," Chen said.

    In terms of America's founding spirit, Chen said he is convinced that the United States will not accept Beijing's missile deployment against Taiwan as a matter of course, nor will it regard Taiwan's pursuit of full democracy and efforts to maintain peace as "provocative" actions.

(By Sofia Wu)

ENDITEM/J