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U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT SATISFIED WITH TAIWAN ON NUC: ARMITAGE

ROC Central News Agency

2006-03-10 20:25:42

    Taipei, March 10 (CNA) Former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said Friday that U.S.-Taiwan relations are good, and that the U.S. Department of State is "satisfied" with Taiwan's handling of the National Unification Council (NUC) issue. "[The Department of State's statements on the NUC] appeared to me that they were satisfied and ready to move on," Armitage said.

    When asked whether President Chen Shui-bian told him during Thursday's meeting that Chen did not abolish the NUC, Armitage did not answer the question directly, but he said he knew there was "a process" going on as the United States had some concerns. "We [United States and Taiwan] settled on the words together¡X cease to function. That's the way friends should work together. You've got to take in the considerations and concerns of everyone,¡¨ Armitage said.

    Armitage made the statement Friday during an interview with the Central News Agency.

    Armitage said that U.S.-Taiwan relations are "good," but he also admitted that when U.S. President George W. Bush commented on Taiwan's referendum move in front of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in 2003, it was a "low point" in bilateral relations.

    But he also said that when Bush made the salute to Taiwan's democracy in Kyoto last year before heading to China, "it was a signal for all our friends here in Taiwan as well as a signal for the Mainland."

    Armitage also clarified his "landmine" comment in a 2004 interview with PBS. In the interview, he said that Taiwan was probably the biggest landmine in U.S.-China relations. "I was asked what the biggest landmine was. So the question came, what was the biggest landmine in the U.S.-China issues? Then I said Taiwan had to be considered the biggest landmine," he said. "But there are other issues -- the biggest other issue, the largest overall issue has to be the different approaches to human rights: whether China has disregard for much of its citizens. This is something that bothers all in the West," he said.

    When asked whether the "landmine" has detonated as the NUC dispute has unfolded, he said, "no."

    Armitage left Taiwan Friday morning after a whirlwind three-day trip in Taiwan. During the visit, he met with top government and opposition leaders including President Chen Shui-bian, Premier Su Tseng-chang, Legislative Yuan Speaker Wang Jin-pyng, Democratic Progressive Party Chairman Yu Shyi-kun, Kuomintang Chairman Ma Ying-jeou, and former President Lee Teng-hui.

(By Debby Wu)

ENDITEM/diG