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U.S. opposition to Taiwan referendum could suffer backlash: president

ROC Central News Agency

2007-12-06 18:08:32

    Taipei, Dec. 6 (CNA) President Chen Shui-bian said Thursday that U.S. opposition to Taiwan's plan to hold a referendum on applying to join the United Nations under the name Taiwan could trigger an emotional backlash from the Taiwan people and could be unfavorable to relations between the two countries.

    Chen said he had been informed that during a meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush Oct. 28, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Yang Jiechi requested that Bush openly voice objections to the referendum initiative or have the U.S. Secretary of State do so to highlight the severity of the issue.

    According to Chen, the incident shows that Beijing has learned a lesson from past experience and dare not make enemies of the Taiwan people by openly challenging them, believing that it would be more effective to exert pressure on Taipei through Washington.

    Despite U.S. opposition to the plan, Chen claimed that it would be "impossible" for Taiwan to change or scrap the referendum -- slated to be held alongside the March 22 presidential election.

    The president made the remarks while receiving U.S. Rep. Eni Faleomavaega, who was accompanied by Stephen Young, director of the American Institute in Taiwan's Taipei office, who recently reiterated Washington's objections to the referendum by calling it "neither necessary nor helpful."

    During a speech delivered at a conference held by the Foundation on International and Cross-Strait Studies in Taipei Monday, Young said Taiwan's presidential election presents an opportunity for Taiwan and China to set aside past differences and work to create a new cooperative relationship.

    Young said Chinese President Hu Jintao's relatively moderate remarks on Taiwan policy at the recent 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China indicates that "Beijing may be looking for ways to open contact with Taiwan's next president."

    Therefore, it is imperative that Taiwan's politicians do not carry their actions and rhetoric to the point of closing off future possibilities, according to Young.

    Apparently responding to Young's remarks, Chen dismissed as "wishful thinking" the belief that both sides of the Taiwan Strait can resume dialogue as long as they put aside their differences.

    The fact that the government of Taiwan has been calling for the shelving of cross-strait differences over the past seven to eight years shows that the problem lies not with Taiwan, but with China, according to Chen. "It is impossible to expect the Chinese leaders to set aside major cross-strait differences, especially to renounce the `one China' principle or the ultimate goal of unification, " Chen said, pointing out that even his "five noes" commitments put forth in his 2000 inaugural address failed to make Beijing agree to resuming talks with Taipei.

    While the problem already existed during the rule of the Kuomintang, which follows a "one China" principle and pursues ultimate unification of Taiwan and China, the situation has become even more difficult now that Beijing has changed its premise of "one China" from "Taiwan is part of China" to "Taiwan is part of the People's Republic of China," he said. "Not even Ma Ying-jeou (the KMT's presidential candidate) and the KMT dare openly say they accept Taiwan as part of the People's Republic of China," Chen said.

    Chen also said Beijing's plan to establish an air defense identification zone in the Taiwan Strait will damage cross-strait peace and stability, and he urged the United States and Japan to pay attention to the unreasonable Chinese move.

(By Y.F. Low)

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