Some people in the US are concerned that Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (
The US hopes Ma will lead the KMT in working together with the DPP to upgrade the nation's defense capabilities, the legislators said.
They made the comments yesterday morning at a news conference at the Legislative Yuan to brief the public about their US visit.
Soon after Ma traveled to the US, DPP legislators William Lai (
Chiang said they met a number of members of Congress and officials from the US State Department and National Security Council during their trip.
"US officials and think tank members confirmed that ... the issue of ceasing the National Unification Council has come to an end, and said that [US] attitudes toward Taiwan's national security had not changed," Chiang said. "We believe that the US supports the people of Taiwan as usual."
Chiang said that the US told them that it had not blocked Taiwan's de facto ambassador to Washington, David Lee (
"It was Ma who vetoed Lee's presence," Chiang said. "The Department of State told [us] that `We wouldn't tell him anything you didn't know,' which shows that Lee has good communication with the US."
Lai said that Ma's US visit had three purposes: to build momentum for his candidacy ahead of the 2008 presidential election, blame President Chen Shui-bian (
Although Ma was quite successful on the first count, he did not attain the other two goals, Lai said.
"The US clearly said to Ma that ... `You can't deal with Beijing without a strong defense,' which I think is an explicit and practical message," Lai said.
The US also told Ma that the US is happy to see any dialogue between China and Taiwan, but reminded Ma that the most important thing is that "China should talk with the elected Taiwanese government," Lai said.
"The US also said that KMT should work with the DPP more effectively in the next two years," Lai added.
You said that many members of US think tanks said they worried that Ma would only "see Taiwan's future with China rather than with Western democratic countries," and urged Ma to cooperate more with the DPP.
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