President Chen Shui-bian (
"I sincerely hope I can have the opportunity to visit Washington over the next four years ... and personally witness the sincere friendship between the peoples of Taiwan and the United States," the statement quoted Chen as telling a group of pro-independence Taiwanese-American professors in Taipei late on Saturday.
When Lee Teng-hui (
PHOTO: CNA
George Tsai (
"The United States is going to be very cautious in case they send the wrong signal to mainland China," Tsai said.
The Presidential Office and the American Institute in Taiwan could not be reached for comment.
In his inauguration speech last Thursday, Chen did not repeat plans to hold a referendum on a new constitution, assuaging key ally Washington. But Beijing has lingering doubts about his pro-independence dreams.
"Tension and uncertainties between the two sides will remain in the next four years. We should not be too hopeful about future ties," said Chang Hsin-yi (
"Misjudgment and misunderstanding could easily lead to conflict," Chang added.
A resumption of dialogue, frozen by Beijing since 1999 due to a dispute over Taiwan's political status, appears unlikely.
"Deep distrust between the both sides make any kind of breakthrough impossible. The lack of trust means the chance of opening political dialogue is next to impossible," said Andy Chang (張五岳), a professor at the Institute of China Studies of Tamkang University.
Last week, the US House of Representatives passed 391-34 a resolution that included an amendment by Jim Ryun, a Republican from Kansas, initiating senior military officer education exchanges with Taiwan, according to the congressman's Web site.
The exchanges would focus on anti-submarine warfare, missile defense and C4ISR -- command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance -- which are fields identified by the US Department of Defense where Taiwan is in most need of assistance.
"This amendment will help make Taiwan more defensively sufficient, while at the same time improving its ability to fight alongside the United States in a crisis if necessary," Ryun said.
Last week, White House spokesman Scott McClellan welcomed Chen's inaugural speech as "responsible and constructive" for avoiding a showdown with China over Taiwan's political status.
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Honor guards are to stop performing changing of the guard ceremonies around a statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) to avoid “worshiping authoritarianism,” the Ministry of Culture said yesterday. The fate of the bronze statue has long been the subject of fierce and polarizing debate in Taiwan, which has transformed from an autocracy under Chiang into one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies. The changing of the guard each hour at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei is a major tourist attraction, but starting from 9am on Monday, the ceremony is to be moved outdoors to Democracy Boulevard, outside the eponymous blue-and-white memorial
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supports peaceful unification with China, and President William Lai (賴清德) is “a bit naive” for being a “practical worker for Taiwanese independence,” former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview published yesterday. Asked about whether the KMT is on the same page as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on the issue of Taiwanese independence or unification with China, Ma told the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that they are not. While the KMT supports peaceful unification and is against unification by force, the DPP opposes unification as such and
CASES SLOWING: Although weekly COVID-19 cases are rising, the growth rate has been falling, from 90 percent to 30 percent, 14 percent and 6 percent, the CDC said COVID-19 hospitalizations last week rose 6 percent to 987, while deaths soared 55 percent to 99, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, adding that the recent wave of infections would likely peak this week. People aged 65 or older accounted for 79 percent of the hospitalizations and 90 percent of the deaths, the majority of whom have or had underlying health conditions, CDC data showed. The youngest hospitalized case last week was a six-month-old, who was born preterm and was unvaccinated, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said. The infant had a fever, coughing and a runny nose early this month, but