Tue, Jan 20, 2004 page3

• Chen pressed to reveal origins of China message

  NOTE Pan-blue alliance leaders said Chen should explain how the contents of the missive ended up in his 2000 inaugural address

  • By Huang Tai-lin / STAFF REPORTER
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  Opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-People First Party (PFP) alliance leaders yesterday urged President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to explain the origins of his so-called "message from China."

  During an interview on Formosa TV Sunday night, Chen displayed a note which he said was a message from the Chinese authorities before his inauguration in May 2000.

  Without identifying from whom the message came, Chen said, according to the note, Beijing hoped that he would state in his inaugural speech that the two sides of the Strait would deal with the future "one China" issue under the principle of mutual respect.

  "Chen should clearly explain to the Taiwanese public about the note, such as who passed the note to him and the whole process of its existence," KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) said yesterday.

  Stating that he was "shocked" upon hearing Chen's remarks, Lien questioned whether Chen had downgraded Taiwan's dignity.

  "I don't know whether the Republic of China can still be considered an independent sovereignty if a message in a note can be added to his inaugural speech and become an important direction of the nation's policy," Lien said.

  "And I don't know whether Chen has dispatched any secret envoy or is involved in doing anything that might in one way or another disturb the Taiwanese public's rights," he said.

  Lien compared Chen to Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa (董建華).

  "To do such a thing that undermines Taiwan's dignity, what's the difference between him and the chief executive of Hong Kong," Lien said.

  At a press conference with local and foreign press yesterday, Lien restated his disapproval of Chen's referendum questions, branding them a "tool for his own personal campaign electioneering."

  Chen on Friday night unveiled the two questions that will be put to voters in the nation's first-ever referendum on March 20 alongside the presidential election.

  The two questions will ask the people whether they would support enhancing the nation's defensive capabilities should China refuse to withdraw the missiles it has targeted at Taiwan and to openly renounce the use of force against Taiwan; as well as negotiating with China on cross-strait peace and stability.

  "Chen's call for the referendum does not at all adhere to the qualification nor the spirit of Article 17," Lien said, referring to the article in the Referendum Law (公民投票法) which stipulates that a defensive referendum can be initiated by the president under the condition that the country faces an external threat that could interfere with national sovereignty.

  Lien's running mate, PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜), said the referendum was without legal basis, unnecessary and untimely.

  Chiding Chen for not observing the law, Soong said that more people, including the international community, are now asking "What's next?" if Chen succeeds in his re-election bid.

  The pan-blue alliance also took the opportunity at yesterday's press conference to announce that it would dispatch a seasoned diplomat, Jason Yuan (袁健生), to Washington as the "formal communicative channel" with the US government.

  "In the past, the alliance's messages had often been misunderstood and distorted," Lien said.

  "Yuan will act on behalf of the alliance to clearly express to the US government, Congress, academia and the press the views of the alliance and that of Taiwan's mainstream," he said.

  Yuan, former director of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Los Angeles and previously representative to Canada and Panama, is slated to take off for his role in the US shortly after the Lunar New Year holiday.
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