President Chen Shui-bian (
"Beijing's insistence on its `one China' principle is tantamount to rejecting any dialogue with us at all," said Chen while meeting with former US secretary of defense William Cohen at the Presidential Office.
Noting that Beijing's "one China" principle is designed to turn Taiwan into another special administrative region under its jurisdiction, like Hong Kong, Chen said the Taiwanese government and people cannot accept that situation.
Moreover, Chen said, nowhere in the official government records of Taiwan is there anything that substantiates Beijing's claim that the two sides reached a consensus in 1992 on the "one China" principle.
In his view, Chen said, the two sides should shelve their dispute over the ultra-sensitive sovereignty issue and resume the long-stalled dialogue based on the principles of democracy, parity and peace.
Chen went on to say that the DPP has recently taken a critical step toward forging cross-strait rapprochement by enshrining its 1999 "Resolution on Taiwan's Future" into its party charter.
This was a crucial step in light of the DPP's pro-independence history, Chen said, adding that the "1999 Resolution" recognizes Tai-wan and Taiwan's Constitution and defines cross-strait relations based on the Constitution. In the past, the DPP intended to establish an independent republic on Taiwan.
More importantly, Chen said, the resolution clearly states that any change to Taiwan's status quo must be decided by the 23 million people of Taiwan of their own free will.
"This stance fully complies with the basic US policy on cross-strait affairs that any change to Taiwan's status quo must respect the will and choice of the people of Taiwan," Chen explained.
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