Mon, Apr 14, 2008 - Page 1 News List

Siew meets Powell as Chen pans trip

BEIJING'S DISTRACTION Vincent Siew met with the former US secretary of state as President Chen slammed his visit as a ploy by China to divert attention away from Tibet

By Ko Shu-ling  /  STAFF REPORTER, WITH AGENCIES

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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