Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) spent a grueling day in Washington Thursday trying to clarify President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) "one country on each side of the Strait," statement and convince the city's Taiwan watchers that the government's cross-strait policy had not changed.
While she appeared to have convinced many of the dozens of officials, congressional staffers and think-tank opinion makers she spoke with, some doubts remained.
The Capitol hill staffers she lunched with at a tony restaurant near the Capitol appeared less than pleased with her explanation of what exactly Chen said in his teleconference speech to an overseas pro-independence group in Tokyo, and with the English translation, sources say.
"The explanation in English was not compelling," one attendee told the Taipei Times.
The staffers reportedly tried unsuccessfully to find out what the original remarks were, and what they meant, during the two-hour closed-door session, focusing mainly on Chen's one-side-two-countries remarks.
Tsai told the staffers the purpose of Chen's speech was to "reconcile the government's position on the future of Taiwan with the party's position" now that he is DPP chairman.
"She said a referendum was entirely consistent with what his formulation was before, which is that he wouldn't call for a referendum if China's intentions were peaceful.
"His view was that as president he couldn't make a decision for the rest of the people of Taiwan. It would have be a collective decision on Taiwan's future.
She referred back to a 1999 DPP party resolution that referred to Taiwan as a country and said that "collective concurrence" would be needed to change the status quo, an attendee said. She also referred to this week's MAC statement that said a referendum would be called only if China used force or tried to force a "one-China-two-systems"formula on Taiwan.
Earlier, Tsai met with a cross-section of scholars and others who help formulate Washington's China policy, and seemed to be more successful in convincing them that the policy has not changed, during a two-hour session at the Brookings Institution.
Asked how the session went, Tsai said only, "I think it's fine."
"The fundamental point that she was making was that there was not policy change here," said Bob Grealy, an Asia analyst for the financial firm of J. P. Morgan Chase after the session.
Chen's position, Tsai told the group, "was the position that the party has always had, and it was not an issue of a referendum on independence, it's a referendum on the issue of sovereignty, and [her explanation] took the sting out of what looked like a radical departure," he said.
Grealy also said Tsai's explanations would ease the international business community's concerns over Chen's remarks.
"I came away from that saying I am not concerned. And I don't think the business community will be concerned," he said, noting the Taiwan stock market's rapid recovery after an initial plunge.
Grealy said the audience reaction to Tsai was "very positive."
Former American Institute in Taiwan director Richard Bush, now the head of Brookings' Northeast Asia program, called the session a "very good exchange" and an "example of good communication," but refused to give details.
Arthur Waldron, the head of Asia programs for the American Enterprise Institute, hinted at the difficulty Tsai must have had during the meeting, saying "it's a very difficult mission she has."
Tsai has extended her visit, which originally was to have lasted only two days, through the weekend.
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