The US State Department has fallen into line with the White House in urging China to talk directly with President Chen Shui-bian (
Meanwhile, the White House again expressed the hope that the meeting between Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (
"We urge Beijing to reach out to President Chen and his Cabinet," State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said Friday.
"Any long-term solution can only be found if Beijing negotiates with the duly elected leadership in Taiwan," he said in response to a question about the department's reaction to the Lien-Hu meeting.
The language echoes that used by White House Spokesman Scott McClellan on Wednesday.
Previously, the department's spokesmen had welcomed and said it supported the visits to China by Lien and other members of the pan-blue alliance, but did not mention Chen or urge China to talk with him.
Following Wednesday's statement by McClellan, the department has apparently added the call for talks with Chen to its official litany on cross-strait dialogue. McClellan, meanwhile, Friday repeated his comments made on Wednesday.
"We believe that it's most important that there be dialogue between Chinese leaders and the elected representatives of the government of Taiwan," he told his daily press briefing.
"And so we would hope that this would be a sign that China will continue to move forward on a dialogue with President Chen and members of his government, which is the duly elected government in Taiwan," he said.
He also seemed to support the Lien visit, saying, "We welcome dialogue between China and leaders in Taiwan."
Asked about Beijing's refusal so far to talk with Chen, McClellan added, "we'll continue working with the parties in the region and continue to encourage them to engage in dialogue to promote peace and stability in the region."
For his part, Ereli declined repeatedly to comment on the specific points raised in the Lien-Hu meeting, saying only that the State Department sees Lien's trip in the "broad context" that "dialogue is in the interests of both sides to achieve a peaceful resolution of their differences in a manner that is acceptable to both."
He also declined to get drawn into a discussion of Lien's motives in his trip, and whether Lien's intention was to advance peaceful resolution of cross-strait issues or to divide Taiwan politically and undercut Chen.
Asked directly whether China's reaching out to the Taiwan opposition is a matter of concern for Washington, Ereli said:
"It's a process that we can support, it's a process that we can encourage, and it's a process that we can try to help the sides work toward."
"But it clearly requires a will and initiative and steps that they take themselves. It is not something that we can control or force. But we can certainly lend our influence and our voice to help move things in that direction, which we are doing," he said.
Ereli dodged a question of whether Washington supports the resumption of cross-strait talks on the basis of the "1992 consensus," which Hu and Lien agreed should be the case.
In Taipei, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) urged the Chinese government to take a pragmatic approach in dealing with the Taiwanese government.
Taking note of US officials' remarks in the wake of Lien's meeting with Hu, Presidential Office Spokesman Chen Wen-tsung (
"We have stressed several times that cross-strait problems can be resolved only through government-to-government dialogue and consultation," the spokesman said. "The Beijing authorities should deal with the DPP government pragmatically."
The Presidential Office yesterday also called on Beijing to cease harboring its "United Front" (
The "United Front" refers to tactics and efforts employed by Beijing aimed at extending its influence in Taiwan to aid unification.
Additional reporting by Huang Tai-lin
A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off Yilan at 11:05pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter was located at sea, about 32.3km east of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 72.8km, CWA data showed There were no immediate reports of damage. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Yilan County area on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. It measured 4 in other parts of eastern, northern and central Taiwan as well as Tainan, and 3 in Kaohsiung and Pingtung County, and 2 in Lienchiang and Penghu counties and 1
FOREIGN INTERFERENCE: Beijing would likely intensify public opinion warfare in next year’s local elections to prevent Lai from getting re-elected, the ‘Yomiuri Shimbun’ said Internal documents from a Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company indicated that China has been using the technology to intervene in foreign elections, including propaganda targeting Taiwan’s local elections next year and presidential elections in 2028, a Japanese newspaper reported yesterday. The Institute of National Security of Vanderbilt University obtained nearly 400 pages of documents from GoLaxy, a company with ties to the Chinese government, and found evidence that it had apparently deployed sophisticated, AI-driven propaganda campaigns in Hong Kong and Taiwan to shape public opinion, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported. GoLaxy provides insights, situation analysis and public opinion-shaping technology by conducting network surveillance
Taiwan is gearing up to celebrate the New Year at events across the country, headlined by the annual countdown and Taipei 101 fireworks display at midnight. Many of the events are to be livesteamed online. See below for lineups and links: Taipei Taipei’s New Year’s Party 2026 is to begin at 7pm and run until 1am, with the theme “Sailing to the Future.” South Korean girl group KARA is headlining the concert at Taipei City Hall Plaza, with additional performances by Amber An (安心亞), Nick Chou (周湯豪), hip-hop trio Nine One One (玖壹壹), Bii (畢書盡), girl group Genblue (幻藍小熊) and more. The festivities are to
Auckland rang in 2026 with a downtown fireworks display launched from New Zealand’s tallest structure, Sky Tower, making it the first major city to greet the new year at a celebration dampened by rain, while crowds in Taipei braved the elements to watch Taipei 101’s display. South Pacific countries are the first to bid farewell to 2025. Clocks struck midnight in Auckland, with a population of 1.7 million, 18 hours before the famous ball was to drop in New York’s Times Square. The five-minute display involved 3,500 fireworks launched from the 240m Sky Tower. Smaller community events were canceled across New Zealand’s
RSS