Presidential Office spokesman David Lee (李南陽) yesterday welcomed AP's initial response.
Lu said she was waiting for an official response from CNN as its managing director was out of the country.
Lee Ming, who was touring Kaohsiung with a foreign press group yesterday, said he had "no comments" in response to questions from reporters.
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) last night said he found AP and CNN's "malicious reporting" on the vice president regrettable.
"Taiwan and the People's Republic of China are two independent sovereign nations. Taiwan is Taiwan and China is China. Don't make malicious comments about Taiwanese affairs using China or Beijing's perspective as it will only produce reports with incorrect information and serious distortions," Chen said in his speech delivered at the spring banquet held for ambassadors and representatives in Taipei.
When approached by reporters for comment, American Institute in Taiwan Director Stephen Young said the controversy was quite obvious.
"That was a Chinese phrase. It was a quote from a Chinese newspaper," Young said.
The Association of Taiwanese Journalists issued a statement last night calling on the government to refrain from "technically hampering" press freedom by expelling Lee Ming from the country.
The government would risk tarnishing the nation's image if it insisted on doing so, the statement said.
The association also urged AP to conduct an internal review of the incident and inform the public of its findings.
Additional reporting by CNA
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