Minister of Foreign Affairs Eugene Chien (簡又新) yesterday expressed hope that ties between Taiwan and whatever side loses in the China Airlines airliner deal will remain intact.
"I hope we can still, even if we don't make a deal, still show magnanimity and justice to each other (買賣不成仁義在)," Chien told the press yesterday morning when asked to comment on the unresolved China Airlines aircraft purchase deal.
Over the past week, heavy US lobbying has put pressure on the highest levels of Taiwan's government to reverse the carrier's apparent decision to select Europe-based Airbus SAS jets over US-produced Boeing aircraft.
A group of US congressmen said recently that if China Airlines decides to purchase Boeing Co's passenger jets, this will be conducive to the signing of a free-trade agreement between Taiwan and the US.
In their letter to President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), the co-chairmen of the US Congressional Taiwan Caucus said that if CAL selects the US' Boeing aircraft over the European-produced Airbus SAS jets, the move will help facilitate talks leading to the signing of a US-Taiwan free-trade agreement. The group's co-chairmen -- Steve Chabot, Robert Wexler and Dana Rohrabacher -- also asked President Chen to personally attend to the issue so that its results will be beneficial to economic cooperation and bilateral exchanges between the US and Taiwan. The congressmen's letter was passed on to President Chen on July 25 via Taiwan's representative office in Washington.
The EU trade chief Pascal Lamy has joined in the fray by writing to Premier Yu Shih-kun to express his concern that pressure from the US side regarding the case may violate WTO rules.
Chien, however, declined to comment on the recent criticism France by Chen Shih-meng (陳師孟), secretary-general to the president. Chen said on Wednesday that China Airlines should consider purchasing aircraft from Boeing because of the US' firm support of Taiwan, while previous dealings with the French government have been "unpleasant."
A foreign ministry official said Chen's remark "was not fair to France."
"Although France can't compare with the US in terms of the friendliness shown to Taiwan, France is still undoubtedly the EU member that is most friendly to us," said the official, who declined to be named.
France last December issued an entry visa to Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) to facilitate her brief transit in France on her way to Taiwan's African ally countries. Previously, it was believed that the EU had an unspoken rule that Taiwan's top five political figures -- the president, vice president, premier and the ministers of foreign affairs and defense -- would not be issued visas, even for private travel.
Last November, first lady Wu Shu-chen (吳淑珍) accepted the 2001 Prize for Freedom awarded by Liberal International on behalf of President Chen Shui-bian in Strasbourg, France.
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