Cross-strait relations a definite reality, Chen says

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday said he will display his considerable patience to wait for the best moment for normalizing cross-strait relationships, saying he believes the "larger environment" will change in the future.

"When will the cuckoo bird sing? I can wait until it does," President Chen quoted the famous remark of Japanese Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu (德川家康), "and I also believe that the inanimate stones will ultimately nod [in agreement with me]."

Leading a group of reporters, the president on Thursday started a two-day inspection tour to Kinmen, an outlying island of Taiwan and also the military base closest to China's south-eastern shoreline.

Chen reviewed an amphibious forces exercise and also visited the artillery base, where he surveyed the Chinese south-eastern shoreline through a military telescope.

Reporters asked the president how he felt and then asked how he would realize his wish to meet Chinese leaders, while Beijing completely ignored his sincerity.

Last year, Chen invited China's former president Jiang Zemin (江澤民) to have tea with him on the frontline island of Tatan (大膽島), a military outpost under Kinmen's jurisdiction.

Chen yesterday compared the future development of cross-strait relationships with Kinmen's development experience.

He said that the "larger environment" will definitely change to resolve the hiatus in cross-strait relations, "just like Kinmen changed from being Taiwan's most important military stronghold in the struggle against Communist China to `a bridge of peace' between the two sides."

Chen said some problems, such as the economy and trade, are not simple but some people are trying to politicize everything and play around with certain ideologies.

"Those people may always consider whether contact, dialogue and negotiation between two sides will benefit or disadvantage a particular party in the elections, which is a crucial element to put aside in cross-strait interactions," Chen said.

"However, I think that these things do eventually change," he said.

The president also approved the transformation of the military from a campaign mobilization tool to occupying a neutral role today.

"Since the power transfer in 2000, the military, led by Minister of National Defense Tang Tao-ming (湯曜明), has the very important role of ensuring the stability of and order in the country," Chen said.

"It proves that the nationalization of the military is a road we have to take and never turn back," he said.

"Now no soldiers and military officials need to worry about pressure from the ruling party or the government for their own political purposes," Chen said.