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U.N. bid referendum not electioneering strategy: president

ROC Central News Agency

2007-09-13 23:46:41

    Taipei, Sept. 13 (CNA) President Chen Shui-bian denied Thursday that the ruling Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP's) push for a referendum on Taiwan's bid to join the United Nations under the name Taiwan is an electioneering strategy aimed at securing the party's victory in the 2008 presidential election.

    Chen made the clarification in an interview published in Thursday's Wall Street Journal.

    The interview came amid explicit U.S. opposition to the planned referendum. In the latest of a series of admonishments from Washington, Thomas Christensen, U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, said Tuesday that the planned referendum worries the United States because it "raises the question of what Taiwan should be called in the international community."

    Christensen said the "apparent pursuit of name change" makes the referendum appear to be a step intended to change the status quo across the Taiwan Strait, which he called a "needlessly provocative action" that will increase cross-strait tensions.

    In the interview, Chen sought to play down the disagreement with the U.S., saying he believes that the U.S. criticisms were made with goodwill and voicing gratitude for Washington's steadfast support for Taiwan's democracy. "Even loving husbands and wives quarrel sometimes," he added.

    Nevertheless, Chen said the planned referendum involves the question whether the 23 million people of Taiwan have the freedom and the right to express to the world their aspiration and determination to become a member of the United Nations. "We hope this sort of basic democracy won't be misunderstood," he said.

    On the U.S. opposition to Taiwan's quest for U.N. membership using the name Taiwan, Chen said the United States doesn't back Taiwan's U.N. membership under any name.

    He also argued that U.S. concern about the possible grave consequences of the planned referendum is groundless, saying that previous moves criticized by China haven't led to conflict. "I want to tell the U.S. government, nothing will happen" if the referendum takes place next March, Chen said.

    He also made clear in the interview that he sees the planned referendum as the cap-stone to his eight-year tenure which will end May 20, 2008 when his successor is sworn in.

    Touching on relations across the Taiwan Strait, Chen said the full opening of travel to Taiwan by Chinese tourists as well as regularly scheduled direct cross-strait chartered flights -- two things long anticipated by Taiwanese businesspeople -- will not happen before he leaves office, because "China won't possibly give that credit to me."

(By Sofia Wu)

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