Taiwan can learn from APEC snub

The APEC summit in Shanghai "could have been a new starting point for rapprochement across the Strait but turned out to be a venue for aggravating mutual misunderstanding," an official with the Presidential Office said yesterday.

"Taiwan, on the one hand, must prevent this incident from becoming a precedent for the next meeting and must also heed the future changes of relations between the US, China and Taiwan," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The official pointed out that the government's policy on pushing for cross-strait reconciliation and enhancing economic and trade exchanges would not be affected by this unpleasant APEC experience. He also hoped that some lessons can be learned for our government officials' negotiations with their Chinese counterparts in the future.

"[Improving] the cross-strait relationship is our long-term goal. Taiwan needs to make it clear to the international community that our decision [to be absent] was not an emotional one. We were forced to be absent because of China's rudeness," he said.

"This is a single case, and the government does not want to link APEC issues with its general cross-strait policy," the presidential aide said.

A senior official in charge of cross-strait affairs indicated that, although the DPP bases its goodwill in cross-strait policy on "economic and trade benefits," officials responsible for external relations should bear in mind the "confrontational" nature of cross-strait relations.

The outcome, the official said, revealed both sides' fundamental motivations at the APEC meeting -- while Taiwan intended to achieve the symbolic significance of a breakthrough in the level of its representation, China took advantage of its position as APEC host to tell the world that "everything in Taiwan was China's decision."

"The informal APEC summit is the only large international meeting where Taiwan can participate," the official said.

He emphasized that President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) wanted to achieve a "breakthrough" this year by elevating the level of his special envoy. That was why the president had expressed his wish to be present at the summit in numerous meetings with foreign visitors and public occasions. But as China ruled out the possibility of Chen's presence, the president turned to former vice president Li Yuan-zu (李元簇).

The source at the Presidential Office revealed that as early as May, the president had decided that he would invite Li to represent him at the summit once it was determined that he himself would not be able to go. But before the media leaked the information on Oct. 10, the number of officials who were aware of the president's idea "could be counted on one hand."

"In reality, the vast majority of the officials, including those from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mainland Affairs Council and the National Security Council, only learned about the president's choice from the newspapers," the senior official pointed out.

"This highly classified decision made by a handful of people made the interaction in Shanghai a fight between less than five people in Taiwan and the entire Chinese system," the official said.

The opposition parties, especially former KMT officials who were responsible for cross-strait affairs, doubted that President Chen's decision-making "was only constructed in the framework of domestic politics."