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Chen wants Chen Chien-jen to stay: Chien

Minister of Foreign Affairs Eugene Chien (簡又新) said yesterday that President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) earnestly wished Taiwan's de facto ambassador to the US, Chen chien-jen (程建人), could continue serving his country.

Chen Chien-jen, the representative of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US, told reporters about his plan to retire in Washington hours before a rare presidential press conference explaining Taiwan's referendum.

Chien, who talked with Chen Chien-jen via phone after the representative revealed his retirement plan, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) has not received the representative's resignation letter yet.

Chien had discussed Chen Chien-jen's decision to retire with the president yesterday.

"Chien Chien-jen is an excellent diplomat ? The president hopes he can stay on in his job," Chien said.

The minister did not say whether the representative has agreed to stay on in his job after the phone conversation.

Chien formally offered his resignation to the president when he returned to Taipei last month to report on the strains Taiwan-US relationship created by the referendum issue, Chien said.

The president asked the representative to stay on at that time. Chien implied that if the president did not agree with Chen Chien-jen's retirement, the representative would not leave his job.

Although Chen Chien-jen asked the president to start considering the proper person to take over his position last month, Chien said the president "did not mention any potential successor to the representative" when discussing the representative's retirement.

Chien would not comment on how Chen Chien-jen's repeated plea to retire might affect Chen Shui-bian's campaign for re-election, but he stressed the representative would respect the president's response to his retirement plan.

Chien made the comments at a briefing MOFA hosted for around forty foreign diplomats to explain the referendum yesterday afternoon, following an earlier presidential press conference concerning the same issue.

The US viewed the statement Chen Shui-bian made in his press conference in advance. Taiwan's efforts to gain more US understanding of the referendum continue, Chien said.

US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage commented on Taiwan's referendum in Beijing last week, saying: "The language that we saw on paper was not the language that I think most of us had been led to believe might be the case."

Responding to Armitage's concerns about the motives behind the referendum, Chien said China's opinions about the vote would affect the US understanding of it.

Mainland Affairs Council Chair-woman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and Chien presided over the briefing for foreign diplomats because major issues were raised by Chen Shui-bian in his press conference on the referendum related to cross-strait relations.

Chien said MOFA invited foreign diplomats to the briefing in order to give them a full understanding of the government's referendum plan. The closed-door briefing lasted for about an hour and diplomats raised questions about the vote.

Chien said the diplomats' response to the briefing was "good," but most diplomats were tight-lipped when asked to share their views about the referendum.

Concerning Chen Shui-bian's proposal to establish demilitarized zones between Taiwan and China, Tsai said the Ministry of National Defense is supportive of such plan.

The withdraw of some troops on Taiwan's outlying islands has begun, but the exact areas for the demilitarized zone will be decided when Taiwan and China started negotiation over the issue, Tsai said.
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