Lee Yuan-tseh comes out in support of Chen

A top adviser to President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) said yesterday Chen's backing of a referendum law was a show of frustration and not a change of policy.

"President Chen was a little frustrated," Nobel laureate Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲) said in an interview, recalling numerous olive branches extended by Chen since taking power in 2000. "He didn't mean to change the policy at all."

Chen said on Aug. 3 that the ability of Taiwan's 23 million to decide their future was a "basic human right" and there was "one country on each side" of the Taiwan Strait.

China reacted furiously to Chen's remarks, warning that he was leading Taiwan to "disaster." Beijing has threatened to attack if the country formally declares independence or drags its feet on unification talks.

Analysts said Chen was frustrated by China's diplomatic bullying, military build-up and refusal to deal with him.

Lee said he believes the two sides will mend fences.

"President Chen has goodwill to try to improve relations," said the co-winner of the Nobel prize in chemistry in 1986 and president of Academia Sinica, the nation's top academic institution.

"The people between Taiwan and China also have tremendous amount of goodwill toward each other," Lee said of civilian exchanges between the two sides that have boomed since detente began in the late 1980s.

"Once we have the way to communicate and try to understand each other, things will improve. I am not that pessimistic," he said without elaborating.

Chen has mellowed his pro-independence stance but a suspicious Beijing had largely ignored him.

Chinese experts on Taiwan policy say China's leaders are now debating whether they can deal with Chen at all after his boldest comments since 2000.

Chen said on Sunday that Taiwan would not be intimidated by China, but stopped short of repeating his controversial comments.

The premier said last week the government would proceed with referendum legislation only as a last resort.