A referendum that President Chen Shui-bian (
Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said in Washington that the US had discussed the subject with Taiwanese officials but was not convinced there was a need to conduct such a referendum, which many officials and observers in Washington feel could provoke China.
"We've heard discussions on a referendum on the World Health Organization," Armitage told reporters during an impromptu street-side interview. "I don't know if that's particularly necessary."
"Who wouldn't want to join the WHO?" he said. "That's why we've always supported [Taiwan's participation].
"So, I don't think there's a need for a referendum. We know very well what the people of Taiwan would say," he said.
Nevertheless, Armitage said the administration had spoken with Taiwanese officials and "this is the business of the people of Taiwan, not of the United States. But we don't think referenda on these matters are particularly helpful."
Like other US officials commenting on the referendum plan, Armitage did not say that the US opposes the idea.
Chen has said the government may hold referendums on a number of issues on or before the presidential election next March.
The referendums could cover such things as the fate of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant and reducing the number of seats in the Legislative Yuan. Armitage did not comment on the other possible referendum issues.
In other matters, Armitage had little to say about Taiwan's latest bid to join the UN. He said Washington's position is the same as it has been in recent years.
"We've had the same view for several years. It has been articulated," he said.
He could not say what the formal US position was for this year's General Assembly meeting.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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