A message of goodwill from President Chen Shui-bian (
"I certainly will deliver a message of goodwill from the president when I meet Jiang," Lee said at a news conference yesterday.
PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES
As the head of the Academia Sinica and this year's presidential envoy to the APEC leaders summit, Lee said yesterday that the meetings are not the place to resolve pragmatic problems, but a goodwill gesture will be certainly delivered. He also said that Chen did not give him concrete instructions about the matter last Friday when the two met.
Lee will depart for Los Cabos, Mexico tomorrow afternoon before which he will still have a chance to meet Chen to discuss details of his mission. Lee will sit next to the US President George W. Bush for four hours and will have the opportunity to meet Jiang.
Answering questions from reporters about what he would say to the two leaders, Lee said, "There are many things to discuss. I don't have any agenda in mind." But he said he would not necessarily ask questions about Sino-US relations and would not mention China's deployment of missiles aimed at Taiwan, because, "That would appear impolite."
"APEC is not the right venue to discuss such issues," he said, adding that, "rather than a field for diplomatic fighting, APEC presents an opportunity for Taiwan to raise its image in the international arena."
The Nobel laureate also said talks with China on the establishment of direct links would not likely materialize at the summit.
After receiving the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1986, Lee had the chance to go to China and visit with Jiang three times during which they talked about technology and education development in China.
"He [Jiang] is not a stranger to me," Lee said.
Denying that Taipei had asked him to pass on any specific message to the Chinese authorities, he said Chen asked him to "give his best regards" to Jiang.
At the news conference, Lee also encouraged Taiwan to have more interaction with China without fearing that Beijing will use direct links as an opportunity to push for unification.
"With the trend of globalization, national boundaries are not that important," he said.
He stressed that the most important thing for Taiwan when attending the APEC meeting is earning respect from other countries by making contributions in the bilateral meetings with leaders from other countries.
He also gave a briefing of his speech which will be delivered at the meeting.
He said oil will run out within 40 years if the current supply and demand of oil continues, and he predicted that there will be an energy crisis within the next 20 years.
Given that research on alternative power sources may not see any real progress within the next 20 years, he said nuclear power might be a temporary solution for this problem.
Since Taiwan and China both joined APEC in 1991, China has blocked Taiwan's presidents and foreign ministers from attending the organization's annual forums.
KMT Deputy Chairman Vincent Siew (蕭萬長), Straits Exchange Foundation Chairman Koo Chen-fu (辜振甫), Legislative Vice Speaker Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤), and central bank Governor Perng Fai-nan (彭淮南) have been consulted by Lee for their experience with APEC.
Also See Stories:
APEC delegation hits Mexican resort
Making the most of the APEC meet
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
DRONE CENTRAL: Taiwan aims to become Asia’s democratic hub for drones, with most exports focused on high-quality military-grade models, an official said Taiwan’s drone industry is expected to expand significantly by 2030, producing 100,000 units per month and exporting half of them, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Current drone production capacity is about 15,000 units per month, but the industry can quickly scale up as demand increases, Industrial Development Administration Director-General Chiou Chyou-huey (邱求慧) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s drone output grew 2.5-fold last year to NT$12.9 billion (US$408.3 million) under a government program to develop the uncrewed vehicle sector, he said. The Executive Yuan in October last year approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion into domestic production of uncrewed aerial
Taiwan is still in the process of assessing the possibility of recruiting workers from Eswatini, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, adding that its goal is to help Eswatini upgrade its vocational training centers. If there are plans to recruit workers from Eswatini, safeguarding national security, protecting public health and ensuring the employment rights of Taiwanese would be prerequisites, Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Yen Chia-liang (顏嘉良) told a news conference. Key considerations would also include filling labor shortages in specific industries, and fostering bilateral professional and technical exchanges, he said. Yen was asked about the progress of labor
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
RSS