Academics and former government officials yesterday said that President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) inauguration speech answered questions posed by China and the US and left options open for cross-strait relations.
The seminar, entitled "The May 20 inauguration speech and the Taiwan-US-China relationship," was hosted by the Institute for National Policy Research and held upon the completion of the inauguration ceremony.
Commenting on the political implications of the speech, institute executive director Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) said the element that stood out most was Chen's response to China's demand that the "one China" principle act as the basis of negotiations, particularly as expressed in Beijing's most recent statement on May 17.
"President Chen said he could understand why the Chinese government cannot relinquish its insistence on the `one China' principle. President Chen said the Taiwanese people value peace, freedom and democracy and hoped that China could be more empathetic," Lo said.
Vincent Chen (陳文賢), associate professor at National Chengchi University's Institute of International Relations, said Chen Shui-bian responded to the "one China principle" with an affirmation of Taiwan's sovereignty.
"Whether you call it Taiwan or the Republic of China, this is a country with autonomy. While we understand China's emphasis on the `one China' principle, the principle of peaceful development is also something that both sides value, going as far as resuming the three links, jointly fighting crime and enhancing economic interaction, and so on," he said.
Former Mainland Affairs Council vice chairman Chen Ming-tong (陳明通) added, "If both sides have freedom and democracy as an ultimate value, then unification would not be a problem."
Chen Ming-tong said the most important feature of the speech was that Chen Shui-bian had reserved a choice for the Taiwanese people.
"Chen is not predisposed to any particular destiny for Taiwan other than placing the choices and freedoms of Taiwanese people above everything else. He has preserved choices for the people and respected their right to choose, rather than saying what Taiwanese people will or will not want," he said.
"The reference to the European Union as a model of regional integration and as a future trend in his speech serves as a prompt for China to consider other possible models for an alliance," he said.
Chen Ming-tong said he found that the terms appearing in President Chen's speech and those in China's May 17 statement were not dissimilar.
"Both mention a peace and stability framework, except China has deliberately chosen another term in Chinese to invoke the `framework,' though it's the same in English," he said.
"President Chen's reference to China's espousal of `peaceful emergence,' raised in its May 17 statement, was meant to remind the Chinese leaders that peace could be the mutual interest of people on both sides, despite `one China' being their ultimate goal for the moment. This is a period of opportunity for China, and a peace and stability framework can work to stabilize the direction that this might take," Chen Ming-tong said.
"Development of the Taiwanese people is the mutual property of people across the Strait -- I think this is the direction we hope China will take in looking at Taiwan," he added.
Lin Cheng-yi (林正義), who only regained the power to speak in a personal capacity after stepping down from the National Security Council on Wednesday, said that although the "five noes" pledge from Chen's 2000 inauguration speech was not repeated in yesterday's speech, the spirit of the "five noes" lives on, and would have a stabilizing effect on international and cross-strait relations.
As most of the seminar had concentrated on the implications of the speech on cross-strait relations, Lin said that it went without saying that easing cross-strait tensions would also have fulfilled Washington's expectations.
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