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Lu, in Texas, speaks out against `anti-secession' law

Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) said yesterday that Beijing's draft "anti-secession" law targeting Taiwan runs counter to US-China diplomatic ties mandating that China should resolve the Taiwan issue in a peaceful manner.

Lu, who arrived in Houston on Saturday night for a three-day transit stay en route to El Salvador for a state visit, said during her flight to Houston that if the "anti-secession" law were indeed passed and allows the People's Liberation Army to use "non-peaceful means" against Taiwan, the law would seriously contradict the principles of the Taiwan Relations Act.

Lu departed Taipei on Saturday for an official visit to El Salvador and Guatemala. She is also scheduled to make transit stops in Houston and Miami during her 12-day trip.

Lu said Beijing's "anti-secession" law is not just a problem for Taiwan, but is a concern for the whole world, particularly the US.

She said that before departing Taipei, she has exchanged views with President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) several times over Beijing's enactment of the law. She said she does not need to convey the words of the president to the US regarding the law since the president maintains "very smooth" channels of communication with the US.

Lu was accorded a reception befitting a visitor of her status upon her arrival in Houston, with William Brown, acting chairman of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), and David Lee (李大維), Taiwan's top liaison officer in the US, going aboard Lu's charter flight to welcome her.

Lu was scheduled to eat at a Houston steakhouse that Chen visited in June 2001 at noon yesterday and meet with a group of pro-Taiwan lawmakers in Texas.

In the evening, Lu is scheduled to deliver a speech on the implications of Beijing's enactment of the "anti-secession" law at a dinner with some 300 overseas Taiwanese who will come from around the state of Texas.

Lu is scheduled to visit NASA headquarters Monday morning.

According to the delegation's itinerary, Lu will inspect the possibility of establishing a "Taiwan Park" for industries in El Salvador, in the hopes that the park's construction can be completed and its operations begun within the remaining three years of Chen's term.

Lu will also attend a regional meeting of the Democratic Pacific Union (DPU) in America in Guatemala. Six Central American allies and five non-allied countries in North, Central and South America will attend the meeting, Lu said, adding that this will be a warm-up to a DPU regional organization to be established in Taipei on August 14.

During the 12-day visit, she will call on Salvadoran President Elias Antonio Saca and Vice President Ana Vilma De Escobar and Guatemalan President Oscar Berger.
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