The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebutted media reports that US officials had encouraged President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) not to give any impression when engaging in talks with Beijing that China had sovereignty over Taiwan.
The ministry added that the US has never expressed any fixed position regarding Taiwan’s participation in international organizations.
MOFA spokesman Henry Chen (陳銘政) made the remarks in response to a reporter’s question about a story in the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) yesterday.
The Liberty Times reported that following Ma’s pro-China stance and his recent moderate approach in pitching Taiwan’s participation in the UN, the US had expressed the desire that
Taipei refrain from implying China had sovereignty over Taiwan and instead insist that China not be allowed to determine whether Taiwan could participate in international activities.
The message was delivered to Ma by American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Chairman Raymond Burghardt during Ma’s transit stops in the US en route to South America and the Caribbean from Aug. 12 to Aug. 19, the report said.
“Through our continuous contact and communication with the US government, the US has expressed great appreciation for the proposal regarding Taiwan’s meaningful participation in the UN’s specialized agencies,” Chen said. “The US never had any fixed stance [regarding Taiwan’s UN bid]. The report is totally untrue.”
However, sources yesterday told the Liberty Times that they were puzzled by the Taiwanese government’s reaction, saying that since the US had already expressed its position, there was no need for the Ma administration to issue such a prompt denial.
At the time when Burghardt made the remarks, a Taiwanese official stationed in the US was in attendance and made a record of the conversation, the sources said.
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