President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) understands the difficulty the US faces in dealing with China and Taiwan but would fiercely resist the country's unification with China, a visiting US congressmember said yesterday.?
"I gather from our discussion with your president that he would fiercely resist probably to the death any reunification of Taiwan into mainland China, although I am not quoting him on that," said US Representative Phil Gingrey, a Georgia Republican.
After US State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher cautioned Taiwan against holding a referendum to seek independence on Monday, Chen told Gingrey and two other visiting members of Congress John Carter and John Culberson, both Texas Republicans, that he will uphold the pledges he made in his inauguration speech this year and Double Ten National Day address.
Chen promised in his inaugural speech this year that he would not declare independence, not change the name of Taiwan's government, not add the state-to-state model to the Constitution and not promote a referendum to change the status quo.
Chen understands the practical realities of the difficulty for the US because of the People's Republic of China, said Gingrey, who described the US as a great friend of Taiwan.
The congressman said with the opening of markets in China, the country may hopefully drift away from totalitarianism.
"Then Taiwan will have the opportunity, as I think it deserves, to be recognized on the international scale as a separate, independent nation," added Gingrey.?
Asked whether he thinks Chen promised not to declare Taiwanese independence because the president believes the country is already independent, Gingrey paraphrased Chen's conversation with him and his colleagues: "I agree that is what he said."
Taiwan and the US, however, "understand the problem with an official declaration of independence, even though unofficially, that is what de facto exists," Gingrey said.
Carter said in their conversation with Chen, the president told them not to be concerned too much about political rhetoric.
"I got the impression that he is very excited about the constitution. The nation is coming up with writing a new constitution and the establishment of democracy firmly in Taiwan. I am personally excited, too. I think it is good. I think he would like negotiations with mainland China," Carter said.
Carter said he also got the impression that Chen "wants to be able to have independence for Taiwan without being offensive or threatening to mainland China."
Culberson, who described Chen as a "self-made man" to be admired immensely, noted that history proves that Taiwan is a "free, sovereign and independent nation."
"I always think it is very unfortunate and I regret very much that president [Jimmy] Carter withdrew support for Taiwan back in the 1979. I am very proud of President Bush for standing by Taiwan and promising to defend Taiwan, as I will, against any potential aggressor," Culberson said.
"I don't understand why the Chinese play these word games. It is an objective and historical fact that Taiwan is an independent sovereign nation. It's apparent, anyone can see with their eyes," said Culberson.?
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it is fully aware of the situation following reports that the son of ousted Chinese politician Bo Xilai (薄熙來) has arrived in Taiwan and is to marry a Taiwanese. Local media reported that Bo Guagua (薄瓜瓜), son of the former member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is to marry the granddaughter of Luodong Poh-Ai Hospital founder Hsu Wen-cheng (許文政). The pair met when studying abroad and arranged to get married this year, with the wedding breakfast to be held at The One holiday resort in Hsinchu
The Taipei Zoo on Saturday said it would pursue legal action against a man who was filmed climbing over a railing to tease and feed spotted hyenas in their enclosure earlier that day. In videos uploaded to social media on Saturday, a man can be seen climbing over a protective railing and approaching a ledge above the zoo’s spotted hyena enclosure, before dropping unidentified objects down to two of the animals. The Taipei Zoo in a statement said the man’s actions were “extremely inappropriate and even illegal.” In addition to monitoring the hyenas’ health, the zoo would collect evidence provided by the public
‘SIGN OF DANGER’: Beijing has never directly named Taiwanese leaders before, so China is saying that its actions are aimed at the DPP, a foundation official said National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) yesterday accused Beijing of spreading propaganda, saying that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had singled out President William Lai (賴清德) in his meeting with US President Joe Biden when talking about those whose “true nature” seek Taiwanese independence. The Biden-Xi meeting took place on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Peru on Saturday. “If the US cares about maintaining peace across the Taiwan Strait, it is crucial that it sees clearly the true nature of Lai and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in seeking Taiwanese independence, handles the Taiwan question with extra
A road safety advocacy group yesterday called for reforms to the driver licensing and retraining system after a pedestrian was killed and 15 other people were injured in a two-bus collision in Taipei. “Taiwan’s driver’s licenses are among the easiest to obtain in the world, and there is no mandatory retraining system for drivers,” Taiwan Vision Zero Alliance, a group pushing to reduce pedestrian fatalities, said in a news release. Under the regulations, people who have held a standard car driver’s license for two years and have completed a driver training course are eligible to take a test
RSS