President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday proposed a "one peace" principle as the framework for reopening the cross-strait dialogue and urged Beijing to give up its "one China" principle, which he said Taiwanese people could never accept.
"I mentioned the `one China' issue during my inauguration speech in 2000 because Beijing's `one China' policy actually means `one country, two systems,' which right now Taiwanese people do not accept," Chen said as he received a delegation from the US.
"For the Beijing authorities, `one China' is a principle, but for Taiwan, it is just an issue, which should be discussed as we seek a resolution," Chen said.
Chen said that if Beijing had understood his appeal four years ago, cross-strait relations would have been improved by now and "Taiwanese awareness" would not have surged.
"Taiwan has drifted away from China as the Beijing authorities have tried their best to suppress Taiwan in almost all fields during past four years," Chen said.
Chen mentioned recent government opinion polls that he said showed that over half of the people in Taiwan identify themselves as Taiwanese instead of Chinese.
"The situation won't develop in the way the Beijing authorities desire if if they cannot adjust their Taiwan policy," the president told his guests.
Chen made his remarks while receiving a delegation from the National Committee on American Foreign Policy. The delegation included committee president George Schwab, former US assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Winston Lord and Robert Scalapino, a professor of political science department at the University of California Berkeley.
In response to Schwab's congratulations on Chen's winning re-election, Chen said that his actions during the past four years aimed at improving cross-strait relations had been rejected by Beijing, some US groups and some domestic opposition parties because he won less than 40 percent of the vote in the 2000 presidential election.
"Now that I have won re-election, though it was by a tiny margin, I have got half of the voters, which means an additional 11 percent, 1.5 million ballots, more than four years ago," Chen said.
"I am a president representing the real mainstream now," Chen said.
"Therefore I believe the Beijing authorities will not threaten us as a minority government and will not continue to refuse to communicate with us," he said.
The president reaffirmed his promise to facilitate a "peace and stability framework for cross-strait interactions" in the next four years, saying that he expects the US government to serve as a peace angel by playing a stronger role in bridging the cross-strait divide.
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