Lin defends his performance at APEC

Minister of Economic Affairs Lin Hsin-yi (林信義) returned yesterday from the APEC meeting in Shanghai defending his performance at the conference and again slamming China for forcing Taiwan out of the leaders' summit.

Lin returned amid criticism of his relatively low-key response to being barred from speaking at the conference's joint press conference on Thursday by Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan (唐家璇).

At the press conference, Tang dismissed efforts by Lin to speak on Taiwan's choice of representative to the leadership summit as simply a "waste of everyone's time."

Lin, speaking to reporters at the Government Information Office, said that "a more aggressive response to Tang would have been detrimental to ongoing discussions regarding Taiwan's envoy to the leaders' summit."

Indeed "discussions with the Chinese over Taiwan's representative [former vice president Li Yuan-zu (李元簇)] to attend the summit had gone on until the last minute," Lin said.

But as of 10am Friday they had still not received a formal invitation from China for its chosen candidate to attend the summit and Taiwan was forced to pull out, Lin said.

Lin rejected China's assertion that appointing Li was an unreasonable political ploy, saying that "his selection was appropriate and showed goodwill."

Some local media and opposition leaders have slammed Lin for not being aggressive enough in protesting the snub.

People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) said Lin wasn't even capable of making a verbal protest, according to reports in the Chinese-language media.

"Taiwanese people are not weak-kneed; they must be given face and respect," Soong said at an election rally in Changhwa County.

"Lin should have walked out," he said.

The Web site of the United Daily News branded Lin in a headline as the man "who didn't take aggressive action at the APEC press conference."

While Lin said the government would not halt plans to liberalize economic ties across the strait over the altercation, "closer relations in the future would depend on China showing some goodwill."

Chen Po-chih (陳博志), chairman of the Council of Economic Planning and Development, bemoaned the focus at home on the politics of the meeting at the expense of the economic discussions, according to CNA.

"Apart from the benefits of simply participating in the international community through our attendance, it also offers us opportunities to learn from the experiences of others and advance our own economy," said Chen, who accompanied Lin to Shanghai.

Chen said Taiwan's representatives had brought up many proposals that had generated interest and support among the attendees, but that it "seemed most people in Taiwan only cared about the political wrangling."

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) said yesterday that no incidents will be allowed to compromise Taiwan's business and trade policy toward China, which was reshaped during the Economic Development Advisory Conference (EDAC) held in late August.

Chen reassured the nation that all the conclusions reached at EDAC, including business and trade policy toward China, would be carried out on schedule, despite developments across the Taiwan Strait. Chen was referring to Taiwan's forced absence from the APEC leadership summit.