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VISIT BY U.S. OFFICIAL UNRELATED TO NUC ABOLITION PROPOSAL: MOFA

ROC Central News Agency

2006-02-26 15:39:01

    Taipei, Feb. 26 (CNA) Former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage is scheduled to visit Taipei in the first half of March, but his visit is unrelated to President Chen Shui-bian's proposal to abolish the National Unification Council (NUC) , an official said Sunday.

    Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) spokesman Michel Lu was responding to a media report that Armitage will come to Taipei next month in yet another effort by the Bush administration to persuade Chen to retain the symbolic policy council on unification across the Taiwan Strait.

    The U.S.-based Nelson Report, a daily briefing on international economic policy issues, foreign and security policy matters and their relationship to politics in Washington, said over the weekend that Armitage will meet Chen and spell out the consequences of the controversial NUC abolition plan and offer tips on how to settle the dust-up.

    Claiming that the report is sheer speculation, Lu said that Armitage has been invited by the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy (TFD). He reiterated that Armitage's visit has nothing to do with the NUC issue.

    Lu added that Armitage will be accompanied by Randall Schriver, Armitage's chief of staff and a former deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs.

    Other MOFA sources said Armitage might arrive in Taipei March 8 or March 9. The duration of his visit remained uncertain, as his itinerary has yet to be fleshed out, the sources added.

    According to the sources, the TFD originally planned to arrange for Armitage to deliver a public speech during his visit, but the plan might have to be scrapped because of what they described as "certain factors."

    The sources further said that Armitage will have many private engagements during his stay in Taipei and will also meet with Chen and senior national security officials.

    Chen, keen to shake off China's claim of sovereignty over Taiwan, said recently that the National Unification Council and the National Unification Guidelines are "absurd products of an absurd era" and should be scrapped. His plan has angered Beijing and alarmed Washington.

    The NUC, created in 1990 when the pro-unification Kuomintang (KMT) was in power, has been dormant since Chen took office in 2000 and ended the KMT's 55-year rule of Taiwan.

    But if Chen abolishes the council and the guidelines, he will be breaking a promise he made in his 2000 inauguration speeches and underscore Beijing's suspicions that he is pushing for independence. Beijing has vowed to attack Taiwan if the island formally declares statehood.

    Unconfirmed news reports have said that Washington sent two officials, including Dennis Wilder, a White House National Security Council official in charge of Asian affairs, to Taiwan earlier this month to try to persuade Chen to drop the idea but that Chen showed no intention of changing his mind.

    News reports also said some U.S. officials are sympathetic to Taiwan's plight and share Taiwan's views that China has relentlessly challenged the cross-strait status quo and has been striving to make "unification" the sole option for Taiwan's future.

(By Sofia Wu)

ENDITEM/J