Chen and aides look at China ties

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday called a meeting of top national security officials in what was widely believed to be a bid to evaluate the country's ties with the US and China, although those present would not reveal details.

The closed-door forum, held inside the Presidential Office and described by aides as being ad hoc in nature, came on the heels of a high-profile visit by Chinese Vice Premier Qian Qichen (錢其琛) to Washington, where Qian repeatedly spoke out against US sales of advanced arms to Taiwan.

Such arms sales would be "very detrimental to China-US relations," Chinese President Jiang Zemin (江澤民) was quoted as telling a US journalist based in Beijing on Friday.

The series of Chinese diplomatic offensives have apparently caused alarm within the Chen administration, although authorities said earlier there was no need to "overreact."

Taipei is interested in procuring from the US state-of-the-art weapons, including four warships equipped with AEGIS radar systems.

Representatives from both sides are due to meet to discuss the issue in April.

Earlier in the day, Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) denied that the meeting had anything to do with national security. The denial was taken by the local media as an attempt to guard the forum's confidentiality.

National Security Council Secretary-General Chuang Ming-yao (莊明耀), Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Hung-mao (田弘茂) and Mainland Affairs Council Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) were all asked to attend the meeting. Presidential Secretary-General Yu Shyi-kun, Cabinet Secretary-General Chiou I-jen (邱義仁) and National Security Bureau chief Ting Yu-chou (丁渝洲) also attended.

An unnamed presidential aide indicated beforehand that Qian's US trip would not be the focus of the meeting, as Sino-US exchanges thus far pose no surprises to the government.

The president, the aide said, simply wanted to exchange views with his security advisors on the potential easing of cross-strait trade.

The Mainland Affairs Council, responsible for charting China policy, said earlier that the government plans to relax its control on China-bound investments, known as the "no haste, be patient" policy.

Introduced by former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), the policy bans local investors from business ventures worth more than US$50 million in China.

Over the years, leading industrialists have pressed for a lifting of the regulation, citing fears that they will be forced out of the international market.

The government is likely to loosen its controls in May as part of overall preparations for Taiwan's entry into the WTO.