The US Department of State, widely criticized in Washington for its furious reaction to President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) plan to hold a referendum on Taiwan's membership bid at the UN under the name "Taiwan," has modified its position.
In a statement issued on Friday, the department added praise for Taiwan's democracy to its earlier blanket condemnation of the referendum plan and said it was not opposed to referenda in Taiwan.
The statement was in answer to a question asked at department spokesman Sean McCormack's daily press briefing on Friday and was issued several hours later the same day. Nevertheless, despite its less strident stance, the department reiterated its opposition to the UN referendum.
"The United States is not opposed to referenda in principle," the department said, in the latest iteration of its position on Chen's statement last Sunday in which he said that he plans to go ahead with a poll on Taiwan's UN membership in connection with next year's presidential election.
"We appreciate and strongly support Taiwan's democratic development," the statement said.
However, in a reiteration of comments made earlier in the week, the statement said: "The United States opposes any initiative that appears designed to change Taiwan's status unilaterally. This would include a referendum on whether to apply to the United Nations under the name `Taiwan.'"
The latest version of the department's policy on the referendum did not include the department's earlier demand that Chen "reject" the referendum and did not repeat earlier warnings that the referendum would exacerbate cross-strait tensions.
Nor did it repeat the demand that Chen exercise "leadership," a personal slap at Chen, or criticize the referendum idea as running counter to Chen's commitments to US President George W. Bush and the international community.
Meanwhile, in a separate statement, the department said that senior US and Chinese officials discussed Taiwan during a US-China senior dialogue held on Wednesday and Thursday, but offered scant details.
The issue came up as Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo (戴秉國) in Washington.
"From our standpoint, the secretary reiterated our position regarding Taiwan and the `one China' policy, the three communiques and the Taiwan Relations Act," McCormack said at the briefing.
The department later expanded on that point, saying: "The importance of maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait was among the issues discussed by Negroponte and Dai. The Chinese raised concerns about various issues relating to Taiwan, and we reiterated our long standing positions."
The dialogue, which covered a range of issues confronting US-China relations, was the fourth in a series. The fifth round will be held in China before the end of the year.
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