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Unification gaffe brings US denial

The White House has denied President George W. Bush told Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) that the US supports reunification of Taiwan with China, saying a report to that effect was a mistake on the part of the French news agency that reported the story.

"The desk screwed it up," National Security Council spokesman Sean McCormack told the Taipei Times, referring to the editorial desk of Agence France-Presse (AFP).

McCormack said AFP had later issued a correction deleting the reference to reunification.

Accompanying Bush on a campaign trip Thursday morning, White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters that Bush called Hu to discuss Taiwan, North Korea and other issues.

Since the White House press office was mobile, the normal transcript provided to reporters covering the White House beat was not available, compounding the confusion.

McCormack said that Bush had reiterated his administration's commitment to its "one China" policy, the three communiques and the Taiwan Relations Act.

Bush also repeated his opposition to unilateral action by either side that would change the status quo, and urged both sides to engage in cross-strait dialogue, McCormack said.

McCormack added that he had talked with the AFP reporter, who admitted that the reference to reunification in the story was a mistake.

A somewhat befuddled State Department took pains on Thursday to stress that the Bush administration's Taiwan policy had not changed.

"There's no change in US policy. We continue to support a one-China policy and the three communiques. And speculation that there is a change in US policy, a new direction that's being taken, is uninformed," spokesman Adam Ereli told reporters.

Asked if the US was "prejudging" a future settlement of the cross-strait conflict following the report on Bush's remarks, Ereli said, "we're not prejudging anything."

Ereli conceded that he had not seen the text of McClellan's remarks or a "readout" on the Bush-Hu telephone conversation.

At first, Ereli said he did "not know who" had released information on Bush's conversation with Hu.

When told that it was the White House spokesman, Ereli said, "Oh. Okay."
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