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Lien blames Chen for Powell barb

Recent remarks by US Secretary of State Colin Powell on cross-strait ties are a "very severe warning" to Taiwan and the government must assume responsibility for the situation, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) said yesterday.

Lien's comments came after Powell said on Monday in an interview with the Hong Kong-based Phoenix Satellite TV in Beijing that the US will maintain its "one China" policy and that "Taiwan is not independent. It does not enjoy sovereignty as a nation."

Powell also said that "the United States wants to see both sides not take unilateral action that would prejudice an eventual outcome, a unification that all parties are seeking."

Lien described Powell's remarks as a "very serious warning" to Taiwan and said that the government must be held accountable for the lion's share of responsibility for the situation.

Lien blamed what he described as the government's flip-flops and double-speak in its dealings with the US for Powell's remarks and added that the KMT had always remained firm on its stance that the Republic of China (ROC) is a wholly independent sovereign state.

"There must not be the slightest bit of doubt about this fact, because Taiwan, or the sovereignty of the ROC, is our home where we were born and set our roots," Lien said.

He added that the government and President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) owe a clear explanation to the public in the wake of US rhetoric apparently supporting peaceful unification.

Earlier the same day, the legislative caucuses of the KMT and the People First Party (PFP), annoyed by Powell's words, called a news conference at the Legislative Yuan to defend Taiwan's sovereignty.

Pointing their fingers at Washington, they said that the US government had no right to "arrange, meddle in or interfere with" any issue that is of maximum concern to Taiwan's 23 million people.

KMT whip Tseng Yung-chuan (曾永權) claimed that Powell's words were a reflection that Chen's performance over the past four-and-a-half years had not won approval from the US and he urged the government to carefully handle relations with that country, especially now at a time when the Bush administration has been "skeptical" of Taiwan's cross-strait policy.

PFP whip Liu Wen-hsiung (劉文雄) said the situation pointed to the problem of Chen's integrity, which he described as the country's "greatest crisis."
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