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Lawmakers respond to Jiang's address

While differing on their review of Chinese President Jiang Zemin's (江澤民) speech, lawmakers of all stripes yesterday urged Beijing to tear down the hundreds of missiles targeting Taiwan in a show of`goodwill.

In his opening address at the 16th Communist Party Congress, Jiang said that Taiwan and China should shelve political disputes and resume talks under the "one China" principle.

DPP legislative whip Wang Tuoh (王拓) said the insistence on "one China" is itself the biggest controversy that has obstructed normalization of ties between the two sides.

"Jiang has apparently overlooked the conflicting nature of the `one China' policy," he said. "The DPP cannot accept this precondition in its bid to pursue cross-strait friendship."

Wang added that the Chinese leader failed to grasp the Taiwanese people's wish to maintain the status quo when he offered anew to unite the two sides under the "one country, two systems" framework.

But the DPP lawmaker said he found Jiang's call for dialogue worthy of encouragement on the grounds it is conducive to ending the hostile atmosphere in the Taiwan Strait.

The TSU caucus said they hoped the new generation of Chinese leaders would be more proactive and pragmatic when dealing with the sovereignty feud.

"We hope the Chinese government, after the leadership shuffle, will overhaul its Taiwan policy and remove the 400 missiles along the southeastern coast facing Taiwan within three months," TSU legislative leader Su Ying-kwei (蘇盈貴) said.

He said Taiwan would then take concrete steps to negotiate direct links with China.

Su noted that Beijing's intent to annex Taiwan remains unchanged as evidenced by Jiang's assertion that China will never promise to abandon the use of force when handling the Taiwan question.

The KMT painted Jiang's speech as positive.

KMT legislative whip Lee Chuan-chia (李全教) said he found "innovative goodwill" in Jiang's address when the Chinese leader said the two sides should sit down and talk.

He said the statement struck a chord with his party's "one country, different interpretations" plan for ending the cross-strait impasse.

"To the KMT, one country refers to the Republic of China on Taiwan, though Beijing insists it is the People's Republic of China," Lee said, adding that the verbal ambiguity allowed the two rivals to conduct several rounds of dialogue in the 1990s.

Lee advised Beijing to dismantle its missiles targeting Taiwan to gain the support of Taiwanese and facilitate full-scale exchanges.

PFP legislative leader Shen Chih-hwei (沈智慧) said she failed to spot anything new in Jiang's speech.
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