The National Security Bureau (NSB) said yesterday that it is unlikely that the US president will say anything that will seriously affect Taiwan or make any new deals with China when he meets his Chinese counterpart next month.
The economy
"Our intelligence says that they will mainly discuss economic issues, such as the revaluation of China's currency and the trade deficit between the two countries. Intelligence has not discovered that the meeting will do anything to seriously affect Taiwan," bureau Director-General Hsueh Shih-ming (
US President George W. Bush will meet Chinese President Hu Jintao (
Hsueh said the US would not like to see Taiwan make any provocative moves at the moment, adding that it appears to have understood the government's decision on the National Unification Council (NUC) and its guidelines.
Asking to comment on China's response regarding the council, Hsueh said that the "Chinese ambassador to the US asked to see US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice the day after Taipei announced the NUC would `cease to apply' on Feb.28, hoping that the US would protest the government's decision."
China also asked all 166 of its allies to protest Taiwan's decision, but only around 20 countries had done so, he said.
Taiwan should continue to convince the international community that the decision has nothing to do with changing the "status quo," he said.
Not consulted
He said that President Chen Shui-bian (
"I was involved in the matter after the president and China made it public, and I think the president and his assistants made the plan," Hsueh said.
When asked if Chen would benefit from the move, Hsueh said he probably would.
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