• Military

• WMD Menu                           

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

• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

NSC HEAD DISMISSES REPORTS ON U.S. RESPONSE TO PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS

ROC Central News Agency

2006-01-10 18:06:54

    Taipei, Jan. 10 (CNA) A senior Taiwan security official Tuesday denied reports that the United States had demanded alterations in the draft of President Chen Shui-bian's New Year Day's address, adding that Taiwan's communication with the United States has been smooth.

    Chiou I-jen, secretary general of the National Security Council (NSC), spoke in response to reports that the U.S. was concerned about the content of Chen's address, especially the part on a "new Constitution," and returned the draft three times for changes.

    Chiou said that the U.S. was mainly concerned about the "referendum on a new Constitution" and the "cross-strait trade and economic policy" in the address. "After explanation, the U.S. still had different views. But we've continued to communicate, and there is no urgent problem we need to deal with now," he said.

    Speaking on the drafting of the address, Chiou said the president made adjustments to the first draft, and it was finalized after several rounds of discussions. "We only communicated with the United States after completing the final copy, " he said, adding that by that time, it was less than 30 hours before the speech was to be delivered. "Therefore, it is impossible that the U.S. returned the copy three times," Chiou said, adding that the "U.S. couldn't possibly do such a thing, and Taiwan couldn't possibly accept it."

    Chiou said that "during the process of finalizing the speech, the president had his basic line, his aides made suggestions, the U.S. responded after receiving a copy, and Taiwan gave explanations."

    Chiou stressed that the formulation of the president's ideas on major policies was far from being a one-man show.

    The president had received a great number of people since the ruling Democratic Progressive Party's humiliating defeat in the Dec. 3 city and county chief elections, and many of them had also offered views, which the president had taken into consideration, Chiou said.

    In his New Year address, Chen renewed his promise to give the people of Taiwan a new constitution that is timely, relevant and viable by 2008, saying he hoped a draft of the new constitution initiated by civic groups could be completed this year and that a referendum on the draft could be held in 2007.

    The U.S. reacted by expressing the hope that the president stick to his commitments on cross-strait relations. "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, " a U.S. State Department spokeswoman said. "We expect that President Chen will adhere to his pledges, which we take very seriously, when undertaking any further constitutional reforms," she added.

    The president also said that the "active management, effective liberalization" policy in dealing with commerce with China represents the new mindset and course of action for future cross-strait economic and trade policies, replacing the "active opening and effective management" policy that had been pursued since 2001.

(By Lilian Wu)

enditem/LE