U.S. NOT JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS ON CHEN'S NEW YEAR ADDRESS: ROC REP
ROC Central News Agency
2006-01-07 19:41:57
Washington, Jan. 7 (CNA) The United States has shown great concern about President Chen Shui-bian's New Year address and is watching to see if it will mean any changes in cross-Taiwan Strait relations, ROC Representative to the United States David Ta-wei Lee said Friday.
According to Lee, Washington officials held in-depth discussions with him immediately after Chen made the speech last Sunday.
Lee said he believes Washington will continue to observe developments in Taiwan and will not jump to conclusions as to what message was indicated in the president's address.
In his New Year address, Chen renewed his proposal for the enactment of a new constitution that is timely, relevant and viable by 2008, saying he hopes a draft of the new constitution can be completed this year and that a referendum on the draft can be held in 2007.
In the first response to Chen's statement, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Janelle Hironimus said on Jan. 1 that Washington does not object to the promotion of good governance in Taiwan through referenda or constitutional reforms but expects President Chen Shui-bian to stick to his commitments on cross-Taiwan Strait relations in promoting future constitutional reforms. "Chen Shui-bian has repeatedly pledged not to declare independence, not to change Taiwan's name, not to add the state-to-state theory into the constitution, and not to promote a referendum to change the status quo on independence or unification, " Hironimus said. "We expect that President Chen will adhere to his pledges, which we take very seriously, when undertaking any further constitutional reforms," she added.
(By Jorge Liu and Y.F. Low)
ENDITEM/Li
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