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Foreign ministry rejects French leader's remarks

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) has expressed regrets over French President Jacques Chirac's criticism of what he called separatists' activities in Taiwan.

During his meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) on Saturday, Chirac said such activities could disrupt regional peace and stability.

While ministry spokesman Michel Lu (呂慶龍) said it was hard to accept the French leader's remarks, the ministry did have advance warning of what Chirac would say.

"The French Institute in Taipei had informed us of what Chirac planned to say? Chirac simply reiterated his stance [on cross-strait issues]," Minister of Foreign Affairs Mark Chen (陳唐山) said during a Double Ten National Day gala dinner.

Lu said President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) had shown his goodwill in the National Day address.

Chirac arrived in Beijing last Friday from an Asia-Europe summit in Vietnam. He has been pushing the EU to lift its arms embargo on China, imposed after the Tiananmen Massacre 15 years ago.

"We will try to get the EU lift as soon as possible an embargo which is of another time and which does not correspond any more to the reality of the situation," Chirac said in an interview last week.

Mark Chen, however, in an article published in the Financial Times on Oct. 1, said China, despite its economic growth, is still very much an authoritarian state.

The article, entitled "The world will pay for arms sales to China," noted "the regime behind the military crackdown on demonstrators in Tiananmen Square remains in power."

"It is true that some, perhaps even most, European countries would continue to hesitate to sell weapons to such a regime, in the spirit of the EU code of conduct for arms exports," the minister wrote.

"Unfortunately, it is equally clear that certain EU governments are eager to begin sales immediately, which will surely prompt arms makers in other countries to lobby for their governments to follow suit," he said.

The minister said people in Taiwan would prefer to spend more on social welfare systems such as those available to Europeans.

"However, faced with China's ever-improving military capabilities, Taiwan has no choice but to invest additional resources in national defense," he said.

Mark Chen warned any Chinese aggression in Taiwan would not only cost Europeans billions of euros of trade with Taiwan, but also cause massive disruption in world markets for key items such as computers and mobile telephones.

"Europe should note that it is not just America that is concerned about lifting the ban but rather all democratic countries in the Asia-Pacific region, because we are directly in the front line," he wrote.
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