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Chen dismisses US hopes on resuming talks with PRC

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday poured cold water on US hopes for better cross-strait relations after next year's presidential elections when he said Taiwan and China would never resume negotiations if Beijing refused to abandon its "one China" policy.

Chen said that while he welcomed most of American Institute in Taiwan Chairman Stephen Young's speech before the Foundation on International and Cross-Strait Studies (FICS) Conference on Monday, he disagreed with Young on several issues, including his interpretation of Chinese President Hu Jintao's (胡錦濤) remarks at the Chinese Communist Party's 17th National Congress.

Chen said he did not think Hu's comments indicated that Beijing was looking for ways to open contact with Taiwan's next president as it had long suspended cross-strait talks during the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime, which recognizes the "one China" policy.

"How do you expect Beijing to sit down and talk with the Democratic Progressive Party [DPP])?" he said. "To expect China to put aside differences with Taiwan is like `catching fish in a tree.' I personally do not think both sides will resume negotiations even with a new president next year."

This could change, though, if China were willing to relinquish its "one China" policy and goal of ultimate unificatio, the president said.

Chen made the remarks while receiving a US delegation led by former AIT chairman Richard Bush at the Presidential Office yesterday afternoon.

Chen said that the best part of Young's speech was that "China's democratization may turn out to be the single most important prerequisite for seeking a resolution of the Taiwan question that is acceptable to both sides."

"A better way to say it is that China's democratization is indeed the single most important prerequisite for seeking a resolution of the Taiwan question that is acceptable to both sides," Chen said.

On the US government's opposition to the DPP administration's referendum proposal seeking UN membership under the name "Taiwan," Chen said the referendum was a democratic way to send a clear message to China that Taiwanese do not want to be a part of the People's Republic of China.

"To put it more directly, it is a referendum seeking to reject unification," he said.

Chen also dismissed Young's criticism that the referendum was inconsistent with the spirit of his public commitment to maintain the status quo in the Taiwan Strait.
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