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Siew meets Powell as Chen pans trip

"Don't be naive and don't harbor any fantasies over China." — President Chen Shui-bian

Vice President-elect Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) met with former US secretary of state Colin Powell for a brief talk yesterday on the sidelines of the Boao Forum for Asia, which opened in the southern Chinese resort city the previous day.

Powell met Siew for about 20 minutes. After the meeting, Powell praised Siew’s landmark meeting on Saturday with Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤), saying it was “very good news for the region.”

“The two sides have begun down a new path ... I think we are at the beginning of a new phase in relations between the parties in Asia,” Powell told reporters. “I hope it’s a path that leads to greater cross-strait activity. I hope it’s a path that leads to new areas of cooperation.”

He said that Siew had been a friend for years, adding that he had also offered his congratulations to president-elect Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Siew on their election victory on March 22. Ma and Siew will assume office on May 20.

Siew, meanwhile, said the former top US diplomat had stressed the regional implications of a thaw in the relationship between China and Taiwan.

“[He] hopes this will not only help to bring peace and stability to the relationship between Taiwan and China, but also contribute to security and peace in the entire region,” Siew said.

Siew told the reporters that he had extended an invitation, on behalf of Ma, to Powell to attend their inauguration.

Powell had replied that “he would love to attend the inauguration ceremony, time permitting,” Siew said.

Siew said Powell had visited Taiwan before and that he had a great impression of the country, adding that Powell said he valued their friendship and would like to visit Taiwan again to meet with him.

Siew said that he wrote a preface for the Chinese version of Powell’s autobiography that was published several years ago.

Meanwhile, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday criticized Siew’s last-minute participation at Boao, saying it was arranged by Beijing to divert international attention from its violent crackdown in Tibet.

Chen said that Beijing used the same tactic on March 14, 2005, when it passed its “Anti-Secession” Law.

To divert the international community’s attention from the law, Beijing invited then Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) for a visit, Chen said.

Three years later, Beijing was once again under pressure after its bloody crackdown on Tibetans protesting the Chinese invasion 49 years ago, he said. To divert the international community’s attention, Beijing had asked Siew to attend this year’s Boao Forum, even though registration for the event was already closed, Chen said.

While some Chinese-language newspapers have described the treatment Siew received as that befitting a national leader, Chen said that he thought such a description was “funny” because there was no red carpet or military honors, not to mention the seating arrangements, which saw Siew seated next to Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang (曾蔭權) and Macau Chief Executive Edmund Ho (何厚鏵).

Rather than pay attention to the meeting between Hu and Siew, Chen asked the public to study the remarks Hu made during a meeting with Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

Hu said that the conflict between the Chinese government and “the Dalai clique is not an ethnic problem, not a religious problem, nor a human rights problem” but “a problem of either safeguarding national unification or splitting the motherland.”

Despite the peace agreement signed by Tibet and China, Beijing still responded to Tibetan protests with a crackdown.

Chen said he was afraid that the peace treaty president-elect Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was proposing to sign with Beijing would be nothing but “a piece of toilet paper that could easily be discarded.”

Chen criticized Ma for being “immoral and irresponsible” and accused him of cheating himself, the Taiwanese and the rest of the world over the so-called “1992 consensus,” which the president said did not exist.

Chen said that he did not believe Beijing would allow Ma or Siew to attend this year’s APEC summit in Peru, despite their pro-China rhetoric.

“Don’t be naive and don’t harbor any fantasies over China,” he said.

The Boao Forum might help ease cross-strait tensions a little, Chen said, but it was too early to tell whether China would recognize “one China with each side having its own interpretation” or give Taiwan more international space when the KMT resumes power.

Neither the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) nor Hu can decide the future of Taiwan, Chen said, because Taiwan is a sovereign nation and independent from the People’s Republic of China. Only the 23 million people of Taiwan have the final say on the country’s future, he said.

He said he believed the people of Taiwan would not accept the “one country, two systems” model, nor would they agree to be ruled by the CCP.

Although Taiwan is an independent sovereignty, it is not a completely normal nation, Chen said. The country must strive to gain membership of the UN and the WHO to become a normal country. Taiwan must also write a new constitution that viable and relevant to its needs, he said.

Meanwhile, former premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday urged Siew to maintain the nation’s dignity and strive for equal treatment during the Boao Forum.

Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) said yesterday that the meeting between Siew and Hu had helped to reduce cross-strait tensions that had been heightened by the UN referendum proposals during the presidential election.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) acting caucus whip Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑) welcomed the meeting between Siew and Hu, adding that although the KMT caucus would not be able to determine the tone of Siew’s participation at Boao until the vice-president elect returns to Taiwan, it views the Hu-Siew meeting as an historic event that would significantly contribute to the development of cross-strait relations.
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