US says Chen admin inconsistent

The US on Friday accused the Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) administration of sending an inconsistent message on its plans for a referendum in March, and said that as a result, it could not clarify the administration's position on the planned vote.

"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 (溫家寶) in the Oval Office last month, the US administration has never specified what its objections are to the anti-missile referendum, or how it feels such a poll would upset the cross-strait status quo.

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.