Taiwan's de facto ambassador to Washington, David Lee (
He said the window could begin after next week's legislative elections are completed.
That election would complete a year of important political changes in all three parties involved -- Taiwan, China and the US -- and usher in a period free of elections.
Such electoral periods focus attention on domestic, rather that foreign affairs, and tend to limit the scope for discussion of sensitive issues, Lee said.
Over the past year, he noted, the US and Taiwan have gone through both presidential and legislative elections, and, in China, President Hu Jintao (
That made this year "a difficult year" in cross-strait relations, said Lee, whose title is representative of the Taipei economic and Cultural Representative Office in Washington.
"But in 2005 and 2006, we hope that we will see some window of opportunity to resume dialogue across the Taiwan Strait," Lee said in a luncheon address at a George Washington University symposium on Taiwan and Cross-Strait Relations in Washington on Friday.
With Hu and premier Wen Jiabao (
Such talks could be in the spirit of the 1992 Hong Kong formula in which both sides "set aside all controversial issues and instead engaged in discussions of substance."
While Washington has shunned the idea of acting as a mediator for such talks, Lee said that Washington "will probably choose to play the role of facilitator."
Lee also addressed the lingering concern in Washington over President Chen Shui-bian's (
He recalled that in the late 1980s and the 1990s, Taiwan was lauded "as an emerging democracy, a shining example of ... economic prosperity and democratization."
However, in the past four months since he arrived in Washington in late July to replace Chen Chien-jen (
"In recent months, I have heard some criticism, blaming Taiwan for some of regional tensions, which I do not share," he said.
Lee conceded that many people in Washington feel that Taiwan's political "growing pains" are continuing.
He responded that "you have to realize that it has not been very easy, it has been a long way for Taiwan to reach where we are. The most important thing for us is to stick with the goal of democratization ... However, in the meantime, we have to do something to help alleviate some of the concerns, and the issues that exist between Washington and Taipei."
He also noted that "there is still a lot of concern in official Washington as well as in the think tanks and the academic community" about Chen's plans for constitutional reform.
"After the legislative election, the government will work with the US government, we will work with the people in the think tanks and the academic community to let you know better how we are going to approach constitutional reform." Lee said.
Lee described the Washington channels of communication between Taiwan and the US "efficient and effective."
While he does not have the authority to call the secretary of state, he does on several occasions called senior US officials in the middle of the night to relate important messages he receives from Taiwan.
"In the wee hours, they all talk with me and they all give me an initial reaction from the administration," he said.
On one occasion, he called an official deeply involved in US policy toward Taiwan in the middle of the night.
That official was on his honeymoon, but he still returned the phone call.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods