Taiwan's foreign ministry has sent a message to the US government to allay any concerns Washington may have over President Chen Shui-bian's (
The message basically "follows the line of what President Chen and Premier [Frank] Hsieh (
In an interview with the Taipei Times afterwards, Lee declined to go into more details about the contents of the cable, which was delivered according to instructions from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA).
Some have called for local cable station TVBS to be shut down over allegations that it is in violation of media ownership laws due to the majority of its shares being owned by Hong Kong investors. But Chen promised last week that no TV station would be closed while he is president. Hsieh told a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday that the Government Information Office's investigation of TVBS had nothing to do with suppressing freedom of the press.
Lee said that he had "dutifully" informed Taiwan of US concerns over the TVBS probe, after a statement by the State Department on the issue.
A department spokesman said on Monday that Washington "places great importance on freedom of the press," adding that "we understand that Taiwan's leaders and people also place great importance on press freedom, and we hope this will continue to be guaranteed in Taiwan."
Lee also said that "at the instructions of the authorities in Taipei, I also conveyed messages from Taipei back to the United States."
US officials have not openly opposed any effort by the Chen administration to shutter TVBS over the dispute over its ownership, but have conveyed their point clearly, Lee said.
"Diplomatic exchanges are all very subtle ... If they feel they did not get the message across, then they would be blunt," he said.
"The US has a strategic interest in Taiwan. Therefore, the US is very concerned about the meaning of internal developments in Taiwan, which signifies the intensiveness of our bilateral relationship," Lee told the Taipei Times.
He avoided a direct response to rumors in Washington that the Bush administration cares so much about the TVBS issue that Bush is planning to make a statement about press freedom when he addresses the meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum later this month.
"There are two weeks to go between now and APEC," he said. "Hopefully, this issue will be settled before then. So we don't have to worry about that."
Hsieh yesterday denied a report in the local press that the US government had contacted the Cabinet regarding the TVBS issue.
"That newspaper report is not accurate, I'm afraid," Hsieh said.
"I believe that the US government will respect Taiwan's laws. In any case, the government does not require US authorization to enforce the law," the premier told the legislature in response to a question from Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Huang Teh-fu (黃德福).
Hsieh added that the government would not shut down any TV station without good reason.
MOFA spokesman Michel Lu (
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