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AIT head complained of poor communication: Yao

"The US remains very doubtful of Taiwan's plan to rewrite the Constitution."

Yao Chia-wen, president of the Examination Yuan

Examination Yuan President Yao Chia-wen (姚嘉文) said yesterday that American Institute in Taiwan Chairwoman Therese Shaheen had complained to him early last month about the government's lack of communication with Washington officials over the plan to hold a referendum.

Yao, who visited the US early last month and met with Shaheen, said the US government was not fully informed and did not understand Taiwan's plan to hold a referendum, and remained doubtful about President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) proposal to rewrite the Constitution.

Yao said Shaheen had complained to him that Taiwan always asked for help from the US whenever it met with trouble; however, it always failed to fully inform the US about initiatives and plans being pushed by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government.

Shaheen urged the government to do a better job in communicating with the US before moving ahead with its proposals. She was referring to Chen's plan to rewrite the Constitution, have it ratified by the people through a national referendum in 2006 and then put into effect in 2008.

"The US remains very doubtful of Taiwan's plan to rewrite the Constitution and the main concerns are whether Taiwan will publicly declare independence, which would anger Beijing," Yao said yesterday during a seminar hosted by Taiwan Advocates (群策會) to discuss the meaning of the March 20 referendum.

Yao said the reason Taiwan's referendum plan had met with such misunderstanding was a lack of communication, which he attributed to Chen Chien-jen (程建人), the head of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Washington, holding views opposed to those of Chen Shui-bian's administration.

"Apparently Chen's [Chien-jen]stance on the referendum is at odds with ours [the government]. Chen has previously said that he wanted to quit his job. So he was busy preparing to leave his post rather than dedicating more time to promote the referendum idea to the US," Yao said.

Yao said the lack of support in Washington for the referendum was also due to a negative campaign waged by Taiwan's diplomats, who he said were "mostly from Taiwan's ancien regime."

Yao, however, blamed the DPP for not dispatching more envoys to handle communication efforts during the election campaign.

He said that Yao said the overwhelming approval for the two referendum questions by those who voted in the referendum demonstrated the determination of the Taiwanese people to oppose China's military threat.

"Although the turnout for the referendum did not exceed half of the number of total eligible voters, 56 percent of those who voted in the election picked up referendum ballots and more than 90 percent of those who cast referendum ballots agreed with the questions," Yao said.

"Instead of compromising and giving in to China's military threats, the Taiwanese people chose to oppose such blatant threats and this sends an important message to the international community," he said.

Vincent Chen (陳文賢), a researcher at the Institute of International Relations at National Chengchi University, told yesterday's seminar that the holding of the referendum ensured the establishment of the democratic institution, which could pave the way for the future resolution of such major issues as the change of Taiwan's status.
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