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Chen, China should talk: US diplomat

"We hope that [Chen's] message ... will be greeted positively by the PRC and taken as a basis for dialogue."

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia Randall Schriver

The George W. Bush administration hopes that statements made by President Chen Shui-bian in his inaugural address, plus some recent comments from Beijing, will form the basis of an eventual dialogue between Taipei and China that could lead to some sort of a settlement of cross-strait differences, a senior State Department official said in Washington on Thursday.

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia Randall Schriver made that comment as he testified before a congressional panel on the 15th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre in Beijing.

"We hope that [Chen's] message -- especially on Taiwan's willingness to engage across-the-board on cross-Strait issues, not excluding any possible formula for creating an environment based on `peaceful development and freedom of choice' -- will be greeted positively by the PRC and taken as a basis for dialogue, which can lead to the peaceful resolution of outstanding differences," Schriver said in printed testimony prepared for his appearance at the hearing.

Schriver also pointed to China's May 17 statement as containing positive elements. That statement threatened Taiwan with destruction by military force if Chen pursues policies China does not like, but also offered economic and political benefits to Taiwan if Chen is willing to negotiate, albeit on the basis of the "one-China" principle.

Despite the bellicose parts of the statement, "there may be some constructive elements on which the two sides can build," Schriver said at the hearing, which was held by the Congressional-Executive Committee on China, which was set up under the law that granted China permanent most-favored-nation trade status in advance of its accession to the WTO.

In response to questions from Representative Jim Leach, who headed the unofficial US delegation to Chen's inauguration, Schriver said that both sides have made concessions in their attitudes toward the possible renewal of cross-strait dialogue, Chen in his inaugural address and China in its May 17 statement.

There is "much work ahead," Schriver said, but both sides were "moving in the right direction," and he expressed the hope that China would take advantage of Chen's remarks to move the possibility of renewed talks forward.

Schriver's testimony fits in with a new emphasis in Washington on trying to jump-start efforts toward the renewal of talks between the two sides.

With Washington having had a strong hand in the drafting, and maybe final wording, of Chen's speech, the administration may have seen the speech as a way of satisfying those who have been pressing the US to play a greater role in promoting cross-Strait talks.

It is still unclear how Beijing will respond. Recent US news reports have said that a power struggle is raging in Beijing as former president Jiang Zemin tries to reassert his hard-line power at the possible expense of president Hu Jintao and prime minister Wen Jiabao, both of whom are seen as moderates and reformers.

The dispute, according to the reports, could likely crimp the style of Hu if he seeks a more accommodating attitude toward Taiwan.

Schriver said that while it is difficult to pierce the "opaque" shroud around Chinese politics, "there is ample evidence" that a struggle is going on.

That struggle, he said, "may make it more difficult for new leaders to be risk-takers" in forging new policies toward such areas as Taiwan relations. The struggle "places some limitation on their moves," he said.
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