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FM declines to comment on possible impact of Siew-Hu meeting

ROC Central News Agency

2008-04-14 18:32:45

    Taipei, April 14 (CNA) Minister of Foreign Affairs James Huang declined Monday to comment on the possible impact on Taiwan's diplomatic situation that could be the result of the historic meeting between Vice President-elect Vincent Siew and Chinese President Hu Jintao over the weekend.

    Huang said he could not tell whether the meeting, which took place on the sidelines of the 2008 Boao Forum for Asia in China's Hainan Province, "will affect or have anything to do with Taiwan's diplomatic situation."

    Huang made the remarks while answering reporters' questions in the southern city of Tainan on whether the Siew-Hu meeting represented a diplomatic breakthrough for Taiwan.

    Noting that diplomacy is a symbol of national sovereignty, Huang said he believes that the incoming Kuomintang administration will handle cross-Taiwan Strait issues cautiously as President-elect Ma Ying-jeou has reaffirmed that he will attach great importance to Taiwan's diplomatic ties with other countries.

    Speaking of Taiwan's renewed bid to join the World Health Organization (WHO) under the name Taiwan, the minister of the outgoing government led by the Democratic Progressive Party said that Beijing has made public its decision to boycott any Taiwanese proposal for WHO access.

    Huang said that "designation is not the key problem, rather it is China's attitude" toward Taiwan. "China fears that any concession to allow Taiwan to join (the WHO) will trigger a domino effect" on Taiwan's other attempts to obtain membership of international organizations, he said, adding that China will still try to shut out Taiwan even if it uses other names for the bid.

    Asked about China's use of the "one-China" term in a public statement released after the Siew-Hu meeting that was regarded as an "ice-melting" moment in the long-frozen cross-strait direct talks, before deleting it after Taiwan protested, Huang said he has never seen China's "one China" stance waver.

    Beijing has never altered its stance of claiming that "there is only one China in the world, and that Taiwan is part of China, whose only legal government is the People's Republic of China," he said.

    The "one China" principle is like "a magic spell that China has cast on Taiwan, " which binds Taiwan whenever it tries to join international activities, he added.

(By Elizabeth Hsu)

ENDITEM/J