The US on Friday accused the Chen Shui-bian (
"The referendum that has been discussed seems to change every day," State Department spokesman Adam Ereli told reporters at his regular daily press briefing.
"I think the point that we make consistently and that is not going to change is that referendums that are aimed at changing the status quo are something that we oppose," he said.
However, he refused to go into the sensitive matter of whether the referendum on China's missile buildup opposite Taiwan, which Chen plans to hold coincidentally with the presidential election is, in fact, one that would change the status quo.
"If there's confusion, I'm not in a position to clarify things at this point," the George W. Bush administration's foreign policy spokesman said.
"I'm not in a position to comment on the latest form of the referendum that's being discussed. That's a moving target, frankly," he said.
He added that cross-strait dialogue "is the way to solve this issue."
While President Bush delivered a personal snub to Chen's plans for a referendum after the US leader's meeting with Chinese premier Wen Jiabao (
Administration officials in recent weeks have tried to differentiate between what they see as different forms of referendums: those dealing with independence and unification, on the one hand, and those dealing with internal political matters and national security issues, on the other.
While they clearly oppose any independence-unification polls, their position on other types of referendums has not been made clear.
Indeed, it was in an attempt to clarify just such questions that Bush late last year sent top National Security Council official James Moriarty to Taipei to present a personal letter from Bush to Chen complaining about the planned referendum.
Nevertheless, Taiwan officials continue to complain about their lack of clear understanding of the US position, and US officials continue to complain about Taiwan's lack of response to Washington's position in a clear and consistent manner.
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
BEIJING’S ‘PAWN’: ‘We, as Chinese, should never forget our roots, history, culture,’ Want Want Holdings general manager Tsai Wang-ting said at a summit in China The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時媒體集團) for making comments at the Cross-Strait Chinese Culture Summit that it said have damaged Taiwan’s sovereignty, adding that it would investigate if the group had colluded with China in the matter and contravened cross-strait regulations. The council issued a statement after Want Want Holdings (旺旺集團有限公司) general manager Tsai Wang-ting (蔡旺庭), the third son of the group’s founder, Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), said at the summit last week that the group originated in “Chinese Taiwan,” and has developed and prospered in “the motherland.” “We, as Chinese, should never
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying
RSS