Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) spent a grueling day in Washington Thursday trying to clarify President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) "one country on each side of the Strait," statement and convince the city's Taiwan watchers that the government's cross-strait policy had not changed.
While she appeared to have convinced many of the dozens of officials, congressional staffers and think-tank opinion makers she spoke with, some doubts remained.
The Capitol hill staffers she lunched with at a tony restaurant near the Capitol appeared less than pleased with her explanation of what exactly Chen said in his teleconference speech to an overseas pro-independence group in Tokyo, and with the English translation, sources say.
"The explanation in English was not compelling," one attendee told the Taipei Times.
The staffers reportedly tried unsuccessfully to find out what the original remarks were, and what they meant, during the two-hour closed-door session, focusing mainly on Chen's one-side-two-countries remarks.
Tsai told the staffers the purpose of Chen's speech was to "reconcile the government's position on the future of Taiwan with the party's position" now that he is DPP chairman.
"She said a referendum was entirely consistent with what his formulation was before, which is that he wouldn't call for a referendum if China's intentions were peaceful.
"His view was that as president he couldn't make a decision for the rest of the people of Taiwan. It would have be a collective decision on Taiwan's future.
She referred back to a 1999 DPP party resolution that referred to Taiwan as a country and said that "collective concurrence" would be needed to change the status quo, an attendee said. She also referred to this week's MAC statement that said a referendum would be called only if China used force or tried to force a "one-China-two-systems"formula on Taiwan.
Earlier, Tsai met with a cross-section of scholars and others who help formulate Washington's China policy, and seemed to be more successful in convincing them that the policy has not changed, during a two-hour session at the Brookings Institution.
Asked how the session went, Tsai said only, "I think it's fine."
"The fundamental point that she was making was that there was not policy change here," said Bob Grealy, an Asia analyst for the financial firm of J. P. Morgan Chase after the session.
Chen's position, Tsai told the group, "was the position that the party has always had, and it was not an issue of a referendum on independence, it's a referendum on the issue of sovereignty, and [her explanation] took the sting out of what looked like a radical departure," he said.
Grealy also said Tsai's explanations would ease the international business community's concerns over Chen's remarks.
"I came away from that saying I am not concerned. And I don't think the business community will be concerned," he said, noting the Taiwan stock market's rapid recovery after an initial plunge.
Grealy said the audience reaction to Tsai was "very positive."
Former American Institute in Taiwan director Richard Bush, now the head of Brookings' Northeast Asia program, called the session a "very good exchange" and an "example of good communication," but refused to give details.
Arthur Waldron, the head of Asia programs for the American Enterprise Institute, hinted at the difficulty Tsai must have had during the meeting, saying "it's a very difficult mission she has."
Tsai has extended her visit, which originally was to have lasted only two days, through the weekend.
CHINESE THREAT: The military also simulated repelling an attack on Penghu and transporting military vehicles from Hualien to Yilan to reinforce defenses in the north The government yesterday slowed mobile Internet coverage for a large swathe of the central part of Taiwan proper for the first time during annual war games, simulating communication disruption in the event of a Chinese attack or natural disaster. Taiwan, which has long lived with the threat of a Chinese invasion, holds air raid drills along with its war games every year, clearing people from the streets for 30 minutes. During the Internet “throttling” drill, centered on Taichung, only basic mobile phone services worked, although other functions, including ATMs, traffic signals, landlines and fixed-line Internet services, were not affected. Air raid sirens rang
‘IRONIC’: The Nagasaki memorial calls for the abolition of nuclear weapons and peace, but it sided with China, which has been threatening peace in the Strait, an official said Taipei yesterday protested the seating arrangement at the Nagasaki atomic bombing memorial ceremony, saying that the Nagasaki City Government’s decision to place its representative outside the diplomatic delegation area slighted Taiwan’s national status and played into Beijing’s efforts to suppress the nation. Representative to Japan Lee Yi-yang (李逸洋) said he declined to attend the event, because the seat placement deliberately diminished Taiwan’s status and dignity, with Chen Ming-chun (陳銘俊), head of the Fukuoka Branch of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Osaka, attending in his place. Taiwan is known worldwide for its commitment to peace and democracy, Lee said, adding that
CHINESE INFLUENCE? The TPP denied any knowledge that the Chinese immigrant had been reporting to Beijing or that she had participated in the party’s decisionmaking The New Taipei District Court yesterday sentenced Chinese immigrant Xu Chunying (徐春鶯) to seven years in prison for fraud, helping Chinese nationals illegally enter Taiwan and acting at Beijing’s direction to influence Taiwanese politics. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said it found that Xu and Cross-Strait Marriage Harmony Promotion Association chairman Chung Chin-ming (鍾錦明) had maintained long-term contact with Yang Wentao (楊文濤), director of the Cross-Strait Marriage and Family Service Center, and Sun Xian (孫憲), vice director of the Shanghai China Council for the Promotion of Peaceful National Reunification. Prosecutors accused Xu and Chung of accepting instructions to campaign for certain
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and other opposition politicians are “taking Taiwan’s democracy hostage” for selfish gain, The Economist said in a column published online on Tuesday. “Taiwan’s freedoms should be a strength, raising the costs to China of a takeover. Shamefully, they are being betrayed from within,” the British news magazine said. While a lot of countries have toxic politicians, Taiwan’s stand out as particularly irresponsible, and “the blame is not evenly distributed,” it said. Although President William Lai (賴清德) is stubborn and, unlike his predecessor, does not consult KMT moderates, the opposition has triggered a “rolling constitutional crisis,”
RSS