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No concessions sought from China over new law

The Presidential Office yesterday denied a Chinese-language media report that said Taipei, using its contacts in the US, had asked China to make some cross-strait concessions now that it has passed its "Anti-Secession" Law.

"The government did not do what the story reported," a Presidential Office spokesperson said in a text message dismissing the content of the report.

The text message was confirmed to be authentic.

A report in the China Times yesterday said that "A source confirmed that the government had sought mediation through the US to relay Taiwan's hope that China could show some good will ... now it had passed the Anti-Secession Law."

The so-called "goodwill gestures that are of substantial interests to Taiwan" included, for instance, Beijing not interfering with Taiwan's signing of free trade pacts with other counties, allowing Taiwan to participate in the World Health Assembly and permitting a certain number of tourists from China to visit Taiwan, the report said.

The text message denied this, saying, "President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) has clearly expressed the government's stance."

In his first comments on the law, Chen on Wednesday expressed "grave concern and regret," over the legislation and announced an official reaction to the law, broken down into six principles. These include: Taiwan is an independent sovereign state and only the Taiwanese people can decide the nation's future; Taiwan and China should resolve their differences through dialogue; China's law is and insult and violates the principles of freedom, democracy and human rights; and Taiwan will seek reconciliation, not confrontation, with China.
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