DPP sees Bush victory as a boost to US-Taiwan ties

US President George W. Bush's re-election will be beneficial to the consolidation of Taipei-Washington relations and US support for Taiwan, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) officials said yesterday.

Lee Chun-yi (李俊毅), a leader of the DPP legislative caucus, said he is confident that the relations between Taiwan and the US will continue to develop in a favorable direction as in past years.

The arms sales package to Taiwan, approved by Bush in his first term, will remain the most important policy of the US toward Taiwan, Lee said.

Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯), another DPP caucus leader, said Bush has been the friendliest US president to Taiwan, which he said was shown in the privileged treatment granted by the Bush administration to President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) during their transit stops in the US.

According to Tsai, it is an overall diplomatic strategy of the Bush administration to contain China, and Taiwan must continue to play a balancing role in the Asia-Pacific region in the future to secure Washington's support for Taiwan.

Sharing a similar view, Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Legislator Chen Chien-ming (陳建銘) said the triangular relations between Taipei, Washington and Beijing will remain the same as before.

The pan-blue alliance, however, said Bush's re-election will mean heavier pressure on Chen's government, saying Bush has "drawn a red line" for cross-strait relations.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Huang Teh-fu(黃德福) said Chen must not make another attempt to break through the "red line," which Huang said would come at the cost of the US' trust in Taiwan.

People First Party (PFP) Legislator Chou Hsi-wei (周錫偉) said US Secretary of State Colin Powell's recent remarks on the status of Taiwan have indicated that the US is slanting toward China.

Chou urged Chen to take concrete steps to try to improve relations with both the US and China instead of paying lip service.

TSU Chairman Huang Chu-wen (黃主文), meanwhile, called on the pan-blue alliance to learn from the graceful manner of Senator John Kerry and admit defeat in the March 20 presidential election.

Saying the results of the election have been decided upon by the people, Huang asked the alliance to stop wasting social resources on meaningless legal processes.

KMT spokesman Chang Jung-kung (張榮恭), however, said there is no comparison between the two cases.

Without the interference of an election-eve shooting of Chen and other irregularities, the results of the US election are definitely not as disputable as that of Taiwan's, Chang said.