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Sat, Aug 18, 2001 - Page 4 News List

De Klerk says trust key to negotiations

Former South African president Frederik W. de Klerk, who oversaw the end of apartheid, was in Taiwan this week to attend the Global Peace Forum. Shortly before he left on Thursday, `Taipei Times' reporter Monique Chu took the opportunity to discuss with him his unique experiences in negotiation and conflict resolution and, in particular, what lessons the end of apartheid might hold for cross-strait relations.

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I believe some form of affirmative action is necessary, but it must not become a new form of apartheid; that would be as wrong as the old apartheid was.

I said publicly in South Africa that I supported affirmative action, but the emphasis must be on education, on fast-tracking black people, but not to throw merits for young people out the window. You'll find the balance between the need for fast-tracking black people but in the end not saying, "I'll appoint you because you are black even though we have somebody with better qualifications," and so on. So we are struggling with affirmative action and this is resulting in the sense of disillusionment.

But I think, like in anything, the pendulum will swing. I have already seen it coming back to the middle, and in that sense I have faith in the future of South Africa. I think we'll overcome these problems, and already some of the young people who have left are beginning to return.

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