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Premier says Boeing is Taipei's choice

Premier Yu Shyi-kun and Government Information Office chief Arthur Iap, left, visit St. Paul's Chapel near the site of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York. PHOTO: CNA

Premier Yu Shyi-kun told US business leaders Tuesday that if the prices are similar, the government would prefer that state-controlled China Airlines purchase aircraft produced by US-based Boeing to those manufactured by Europe's Airbus.

The company plans to buy about 16 mid-range passenger jets.

Later in the day, Yu toured "Ground Zero," the site of America's worst-ever terrorist attack, in lower Manhattan.

To pay respects to those who lost their lives during the disaster, Yu offered a wreath on behalf of the Taiwan government and its people.

On iron fences surrounding St. Paul's Chapel near the site of the attacks hang clothes and baseball caps of all types and sizes with withered flowers and cards.

"To our loving, kind-hearted and fun dad -- Michael Tinley, we love you so very much, and miss you more and more each day. Lisa, Jenna, Steve and Chad," said one card.

The message was written on a large-sized card with a family photo of Tinley, who died in last year's World Trade Center attack.

Before Yu's stop at "Ground Zero," he met privately with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who said that the city welcomed leaders from around the world and that he hoped Yu would return again.

"Forty percent of our people [in the city] are born outside of the US. It's always been the entry to America and that's what makes New York such a great city," he said.

Bloomberg, who replaced Rudolph Guiliani early this year, upset China by suggesting that Taiwan was a country after he met with Chinese Vice President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) on April 29.

When asked after the meeting if he would consider meeting rep-resentatives of the Taiwan government, Bloomberg said, "I certainly would. ... I would certainly welcome visitors from either country."

His predecessor famously refused twice to meet with top Chinese officials, once when President Jiang Zemin (江澤民) was in New York in 1997 and again when Premier Zhu Rongji (朱鎔基) visited the city in 1999.

When President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) passed through the city in 2001, Guiliani made a point of meeting with him in the presidential suite of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.

Bloomberg, whose company has an office in Taipei, said he has been to Taiwan many times and thought the food and people were great.

"The first time I was ever in Taiwan, I went out about six in the morning to run and I got totally lost. At six in the morning, it was hard to find somebody that spoke English," he said. "But we managed to survive."

Earlier, during a luncheon with 53 US business leaders, Yu voiced the government's preference for buying Boeing aircraft to European-based Airbus planes in China Airlines' US$2 billion-to-US$3 billion purchase plan for up to 16 mid-range passenger aircraft.

"There's a good possibility that we'll make the purchase from Boeing if the prices [offered by the two companies] are similar," Day Sheng-tong (戴勝通), chairman of the National Association of Small and Medium Enterprises quoted Yu as saying after the luncheon.

His comments were a sharp turnabout from those he made just days ago.

During a one-hour interview with Spanish-language news agency Agencia EFE on Aug. 2, Yu said that the government would not intervene in the matter.

"We'll let China Airlines take care of it. No matter what the final outcome may be, it has to be a professional one and take into consideration Taiwan's national interest and abide by WTO-related rules," he said.

The government owns more than 70 percent of China Airlines' shares.

In a closed-door breakfast meeting with representatives from US think tanks yesterday, Yu told the US scholars that the basis of Taiwan's cross-strait policy has not changed.

"President Chen's position of the `five no's' policy, based on the conciliation of goodwill and active cooperation [across the Strait], will continue," Yu said.

At Chen's inauguration in May 2000, he pledged that he would not declare independence, change the national title, push forth the inclusion of the so-called "state-to-state" description in the Constitution, or promote a referendum to change the status quo in the question of independence or unification.

Chen also said he wouldn't abolish the Guidelines for National Unification and the National Unification Council.

Yu also told the group that the problems that exist between the two sides need to be settled through dialogue and that there should be no preconditions for talks.

"That the ROC is an independent sovereignty is a fact. President Chen has been pushing for cross-strait relations based on that fact," Yu said.

Yu also expressed his appreciation on behalf of the government for US President George W. Bush's pledge that the US would "do whatever it took to help defend Taiwan."

Those attending the breakfast included George Schwab, president of the National Committee on American Foreign Policy and John Holden, president of the National Committee on US-China relations.

Yu said since these two think tanks had been helping bridge the double-track dialogue between both sides of the Strait and had given constructive advice on the subject in past years, he sincerely hoped that rep-resentatives from the two think tanks could visit Taiwan in the near future.

Former US ambassador to China, Winston Lord, who is the co-chair of the international rescue commission and Richard Bush, the former chairman of the American Institute in Taiwan, also attended the meeting.

Yu is scheduled to leave for Haiti at 11:25am today and arrive at 2pm.

After their arrival, Yu is slated to inspect a cooperation project at Port-au-Prince International Airport, while his wife will visit an orphanage.
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