President Chen Shui-bian (
"As the US and Taiwan have the Taiwan Relations Act, Taiwan and Japan must have a better cooperative relationship," Chen said. "We'd like to see a strategic dialogue mechanism set up between the two countries, something like Japan-Taiwan security talks," he said.
A Japanese version of the TRA could serve as a pivotal foundation for maintaining peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region, he said.
Chen made the remarks yesterday morning during a video conference exchange with Japanese lawmakers, academics and reporters organized by Japan's Waseda University.
The president proposed that the US, Japan and Taiwan hold trilateral dialogues before talking to China.
He thanked Japan and US for affirming that the protection of Taiwan is a "common strategic objective" and encouraging both sides of the Taiwan Strait to resolve their differences through peaceful dialogue.
"I hope that Japan will play the role of a facilitator and balancing force between Taiwan and China," he said.
Chen said the North Korea crisis involves not only the test firing of missiles in July and and underground nuclear test last month but the fact that the North is not a democratic country and that its government lacks transparency.
The lack of oversight -- by a legislature, opposition parties and the public -- of its national leader also poses a serious problem, Chen said.
Although Taiwan is not a UN member, Chen said that his administration would back the implementation of the UN sanctions against Pyongyang.
While rumor has it that Japan might sacrifice Taiwan to work with China in a bid to resolve the North Korean crisis, Chen said that Taiwan and North Korea are two separate issues and cannot be mixed together.
Chen said that Washington has said that it would not sacrifice Taiwan's interests in exchange for China's cooperation on Pyongyang, and that he believes the Japanese government, its Diet and its people would not sacrifice Taiwan's interests either.
Chen said the improvement of Japan-China relations -- as shown by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's recent visit to China -- would not affect Taiwan's interests but corresponds with the common interests of Taiwan and Japan.
In addition to closely monitoring China's power struggles, the government also pays attention to its democratic wakening, Chen said.
"We do not want to see the rise of China as the rise of hegemony or military force," he said. "As long as China becomes a democratic country and connects itself with the world, we are not worried about its political infighting."
Describing the Taiwan-Japan relations as being in the optimum phase since the severance of diplomatic ties 34 years ago, Chen said he hoped the two countries could sign a free trade agreement.
Chen asked whether it might be feasible to ink an economic partnership agreement before as the first step toward a free trade pact.
also see story:
Chen criticizes `cooperation' with CCP
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,
BEIJING’S ‘PAWN’: ‘We, as Chinese, should never forget our roots, history, culture,’ Want Want Holdings general manager Tsai Wang-ting said at a summit in China The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時媒體集團) for making comments at the Cross-Strait Chinese Culture Summit that it said have damaged Taiwan’s sovereignty, adding that it would investigate if the group had colluded with China in the matter and contravened cross-strait regulations. The council issued a statement after Want Want Holdings (旺旺集團有限公司) general manager Tsai Wang-ting (蔡旺庭), the third son of the group’s founder, Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), said at the summit last week that the group originated in “Chinese Taiwan,” and has developed and prospered in “the motherland.” “We, as Chinese, should never
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying