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CHEN'S TOUGH STANCE TOWARD CHINA SURPRISES U.S.

ROC Central News Agency

2006-01-31 17:09:57

    Washington, Jan. 30 (CNA) The United States said Monday that it opposes any unilateral changes made by either Taiwan or China to the cross- Taiwan Strait status quo in response to remarks made a day earlier by President Chen Shui-bian on his stance toward China.

     U. S. State Department Deputy Spokesman J. Adam Ereli said so while making public part of a statement on Washington's Taiwan policy at a regular news briefing.

    Chen said on Chinese New Year's Day that he would seriously consider scrapping the obsolete National Unification Council and the Guidelines for National Unification, applying to re-enter the U.N. under the name of Taiwan, and crafting a new constitution within the year and holding a referendum on it in the next to underscore "Taiwan consciousness."

    Pointing out that "we're issuing this in the wake of some comments by President Chen in Taiwan that we don't want to be inflammatory or send the wrong signal, so we thought it useful to reiterate U. S. policy on the subject, " Ereli said that U. S. Taiwan policy is based on its "one China" policy, the Taiwan Relations Act and the three comuniques signed between Washington and Beijing.

    The United States hopes that Beijing and Taipei could open substantial talks for the sake of mutual interests across the strait, and Washington opposes unilateral changes to the status quo by either Taiwan or Beijing.

    Pressed by a journalist, Ereli said that Taiwan's participation in the U. N. under the name of Taiwan would be a "unilateral change to the status quo."

    A senior State Department official speaking on condition of anonymity told reporters that "we don't want people to get spun up. We don't want China to get spun up, we don't want Taiwan to get spun up. So we thought it would be useful to make it clear in a public way that the goal post haven't changed on this."

    Chen said in his inaugural address both in 2000 and 2004 that he would maintain the National Unification Council and the guidelines for national unification.

(By Oliver Lin and Flor Wang)

ENDITEM/diG