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Rice urged to constrain US criticism

Figurines modeled on Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Frank Hsieh and vice presidential candidate Su Tseng-chang are displayed at a campaign event in Taipei yesterday. The event introduced creative promotional items aimed at boosting Hsieh and Su's election campaign, including an LED flashlight that projects the duo's image. PHOTO: CNA

In an effort to avert a statement by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice opposing the planned referendum on UN membership, two of Taiwan's top defenders in the US Congress sent Rice a letter on Thursday saying, essentially, "enough is enough."

The possibility of Rice making such a statement has been the subject of speculation in Taipei and Washington in recent weeks.

In the letter, which was faxed to Rice on Thursday afternoon, representatives Tom Tancredo of Colorado and Dana Rohrabacher of California decried the repeated anti-referendum statements that have been issued by department officials.

They said any further statements would be both "unseemly" and unnecessary.

Tancredo and Rohrabacher are members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Congressional Taiwan Caucus, of which Rohrabacher is a co-chairman.

`In the works'

The letter comes as sources told the Taipei Times that a statement by Rice was "in the works," but that no details were available.

The State Department could offer no comments on the matter on Thursday, with one official authorized to speak to the press saying he knew nothing about the rumored statement.

The referendum has emerged as the single most divisive issue between Washington and Taipei since the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) replaced the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) as Taiwan's ruling party at the turn of the century.

China has exerted a massive amount of pressure on the Bush administration to stop the referendum and to characterize it as a big step toward independence, which is anathema to Beijing.

In a recent meeting in the White House, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Yang Jiechi (楊潔箎) is reported to have urged US President George W. Bush to make a statement against the referendum, but sources say that is not on the cards now.

China has described the referendum as a move toward independence, a description Rice's deputy, John Negroponte, echoed in an interview with Chinese television station Phoenix TV earlier this year.

While the administration is believed to have accepted that at this point the referendum cannot be stopped, US officials are beginning to be concerned about the period following the presidential election if the DPP referendum on joining the UN under the name "Taiwan" is approved.

They are said to be concerned that President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) or other Taiwanese politicians could use such a result to launch a drive interpreting the success as a mandate for a change in Taiwan's official name, or as a pretext to move toward a declaration of independence.

Such efforts would provoke China, and while Beijing would be preoccupied at first with the Olympic Games in August, any such political activity in Taipei could generate cross-strait tensions the US would not be happy to deal with, especially with the US presidential elections coming only three months after the Olympics end.

In their letter, Tancredo and Rohrabacher said that the State Department's campaign against the referendum amounted to an effort to discredit the DPP and influence the outcome of the presidential election in March, and urged Rice to cease the effort.

"One or two public statements would be quite sufficient to convey the administration's position to Taiwan's elected officials," the letter says.

"It is not necessary to continue dispatching an endless parade of US officials to denounce and attack the proposal over a six-month stretch while parroting the terminology used by the Chinese Foreign Ministry. Doing so is not just unseemly, it is totally unnecessary," the letter says.

`interference'

"Given the vibrant debate on the issue inside Taiwan and the widely varying opinions on the wisdom and efficacy of the referendum among Taiwan's numerous political parties," the letter says, "the department's sustained interference will do little more than contribute to what has already become a troubling -- and unfortunately quite understandable -- perception in Taiwan that the US government is choosing sides in their elections."

"Your department has already made its objections to the referendum quite clear, and we are concerned that continued public criticism of the measure by US officials will only contribute to the perception that the US is playing political favorites in Taiwan," the letter says.

"The people of Taiwan have earned the right to conduct their elections without coercion from our government, the government of the People's Republic of China, or anyone else, and we should respect their right to do so," the congressmen said.
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