The US heaped uncharacteristically warm praise on President Chen Shui-bian
The commitments Chen made to the US and President George W. Bush since he was first elected president "will not change. There is absolutely no chance that they will change," Chen said after meeting Burghardt.
In response, the Taiwanese government yesterday expressed its thanks and appreciation for the US' positive reaction.
In a statement, the State Department said it was "pleased" by comments Chen made on Thursday in which he promised not to alter the four noes during his remaining two years in office.
"The United States attaches profound importance to these pledges, which are the cornerstone of cross-strait peace and stability," the special State Department statement said.
"We welcome President Chen's June 8 remarks as an important contribution to stability," the department said.
The department statement noted that Chen said that "neither domestic nor foreign pressures" -- including the current scandal-ridden turmoil -- would alter his 2000 four-noes guarantees.
The four noes refer to his pledges not to declare independence, change the national name, push for sovereignty in the Constitution or promote a referendum on the issue of independence or unification with China.
The department also noted that Chen reaffirmed his 2004 pledge to exclude sovereignty themes from his planned constitutional reform.
Chen's extensive promise, in writing, came as the US government was clearly concerned that Chen might react to his current domestic woes by taking some unexpected action that could hurt US interests in the Taiwan Strait.
Chen's statement came after months of tension between Washington and Taipei starting with Chen's surprise attempt to abolish the National Unification Council (NUC), which US officials saw as an attempt to blindside Washington.
Former AIT chairman Richard Bush said in view of those tensions, Chen's Thursday statement was important.
"After having some uncertainty about President Chen's directions over the past five months, the US government has been reassured about his direction, and by the specificity with which he has expressed it to Ambassador Burghardt," Bush told the Taipei Times.
"I think the expectation behind the statement is the hope that this can be reinforced by a continued pattern of words and actions in the future," he said.
Bush said the department has not taken a stand on whether Chen should remain as president. He said the department recognizes that there are political, legal and constitutional processes in Taiwan "and those processes will work their will."
As long as Chen is president, Bush feels, his policies are important to the US.
So, Chen's policy statement on Thursday, "because it is so reassuring to the United States, and to the PRC, and to the people of Taiwan, is worthy of praise and endorsement," Bush says.
Regarding the NUC episode, Bush said the department "seems to have made a judgement that getting a positive reaffirmation [of the four noes] is much more important at this stage in reassuring everybody than looking back to other issues [such as the NUC]," Bush said.
John Tkacik, a leading Taiwan expert with the Washington-based Heritage Foundation, pointed out in an e-mail that Chen's statement after the Burghardt meeting "left out the fifth pledge -- not to abolish the National Unification Council."
The reason for that, Tkacik said, was that the four initial pledges were made directly to Burghardt and current AIT Taiwan director Stephen Young just before the 2000 election after extended negotiations with the Clinton administration.
"The fifth pledge was one that Chen thought up all on his own, and was not the product of negotiations ... It is also interesting that the State Department is now ignoring the fifth pledge," Tkacik told the Taipei Times. "I think the dust has cleared away."
Iris Ho (何燕青) of the pro-independence lobbying group, Formosan Association for Public Affairs, interpreted the department's statement as "a welcoming gesture" that the department "chose to respond within 24 hours after Chen met with Burghardt. Some probably would even interpret this statement as a subtle US confidence vote in Chen," she said.
In Taipei, Minister of Foreign Affairs James Huang (黃志芳) said the purpose of the president reiterating the "four noes" pledges was aimed at allaying domestic and international concerns over any possible changes to cross-strait stability.
"Many in Taiwan might believe that the current upheavals would lead to changes in the government's stance regarding cross-strait and foreign affairs. That's why the president wanted to assure the people of Taiwan as well as international society that the `status quo' will not be altered," Huang told reporters after a meeting with Burghardt yesterday afternoon.
The foreign minister denied Taipei had received any message from Washington of the need to reiterate the "four noes."
Additional reporting by Chang Yun-ping
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