"I believe the election provides a fresh opportunity for both sides to reach out and resolve their differences peacefully through dialogue," Clinton said in a statement.
Secretary of State Madeline Albright, on a European trip, had no immediate comment on the outcome of the election in Taiwan, but an official reiterated Washington's one-China policy.
"We believe this [election] was a decision for the people on Taiwan," said a senior State Department official traveling with Albright. "The US did not support or favor any candidate.
"We continue to uphold our one-China policy and urge the two sides to engage in peaceful dialogue and insist that there be a peaceful resolution of cross-strait differences," the official said.
"We have repeatedly encouraged both the People's Republic of China and Taiwan to reduce tensions," the official added.
In Washington, Republican Senator Charles Hagel urged the Administration to extend as much support as possible to Chen's victory.
"The US should respect the decision of Taiwan's voters and so should the PRC," said Hagel, who is also on the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee.
He also said Washington should give Chen ample time to form the new government and apply its policies.
"The US should be careful and cautious (with its comments) before the new Taiwan government is formed," Hagel said.
Rober Suttinger, the former director of CIA's Asian division pressed the same line.
"The US government has an obligation to support the outcome of Taiwan's election," Suttinger said, who is now a Senior Fellow at Brookings Institute, a Washington-based think tank.
"We are not going to make extreme statements to accelerate the already complidated situation there," he said, adding "If Beijing has tried to stop voters from electing Chen, they obviously have failed.
Local Taiwanese media quoted unnamed sources that the Clinton administration will send a special envoy to Taiwan shortly to meet with President-elect Chen Shui-bian prior to his inauguration on May 20.
At the same time, the US government will choose another special envoy who will represent the US government at the inauguration, the source said.
The source said that the main purpose of the envoy's visit will be to pass on the US government's hope that China and Taiwan will resume dialogue to maintain stability in the Taiwan Strait, and to sound out the policy orientation of Taiwan's new leader.
Next week, American UN Ambassador Richard Holbrooke and National Security Advisor Sandy Berger will be the first high-level US officials to visit China after the Taiwan election. Officially, they will focus on UN matters, but it is expected that they will stress the call for moderation and restraint.
Last week, a leading US Congressman urged the government to discard its one-China policy and face the reality that there are two Chinese states.
Branding the ROC "free, democratic and a welcome member of the family of nations," and the PRC, "not free, not democratic and a threat to the security of us all," DeLay said the people of Taiwan and people of China "will make their own decisions and ... will carefully account for the views of their friends and foes."
He said: "The US cannot ... under any circumstances allow the [PRC] to impose a communist future on Taiwan and must make clear that threats to a free, democratic people will be met with the force required to deter and confront aggression."
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