Fri, Feb 16, 2001 page1

• Chen sees benefit in `interim agreement'

  CROSS-STRAIT TIES Chen Shui-bian told former US state department official Stanley Roth that he agrees with him about the necessity of China and Taiwan first reaching agreement on smaller issues before moving on to trickier questions and further negotiations

  • By Monique Chu / STAFF REPORTER
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  Signing any "interim agreement" between Beijing and Taipei could help improve cross-strait ties, although such a deal was not the ultimate solution to the standoff between the two sides, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) told visiting former US state department official Stanley Roth yesterday.

  Roth, the US assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs under the Clinton administration, urged Beijing and Taipei to sign what he termed an "interim agreement" during remarks he made on March 24, 1999.

  "[You] mentioned in the past that any interim agreement can improve cross-strait relations effectively and enhance mutual understanding," Chen told Roth in the Presidential Office yesterday.

  The president agreed with Roth that any such interim agreement referred to a concept and a process, a press release from the Presidential Office stated. Both Beijing and Taipei should put aside thornier issues for the time being while seeking to reach consensus on issues that were easier to sort out, the statement added.

  "If during the first phase of contact, both sides work out an agreement or arrangement, then during the second phase we should respect the people's choice [here in Taiwan]. Any deal should have the consent or acceptance of the people because Taiwan is a democratic country. The future [of Taiwan] should not be jointly determined by the people of the two sides," Chen said.

  "We would hope that the US government will include in its policy platform [on Taiwan] that the people of Taiwan should have the free will to choose the future path of the island," Chen said.

  The US new administration has reiterated that the US expects Taiwan and China to resolve their problems peacefully. US Secretary of State Colin Powell told the Senate during confirmation hearings on Jan. 19 that: "we expect and demand a peaceful settlement [of cross-strait issues], one acceptable to people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait."

  Roth, however, refused to comment on Chen's remark when asked by the media to do so before meeting KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) yesterday afternoon.

  During Roth's meeting with the president yesterday morning, Chen said that it was a pity China failed to see the transfer of power to another party following last year's presidential election in Taiwan as a "window of opportunity" for the improvement of relations between Taipei and Beijing.

  Since he was trained as a lawyer, and as a lawyer is supposed to be "pragmatic, rational, and able to solve problems," Chen hinted that he was the right man to solve the cross-strait standoff.

  Chen also echoed Roth's remarks made during a speech on Feb. 11 that it is unwise for China to act as though the current government does not exist while increasing contacts with Taiwanese opposition parties. "After all, it is the ruling government that is in charge of policy," Chen said.

  Emerging from the meeting between Lien and Roth yesterday afternoon, Shaw Yu-ming (邵玉銘), KMT deputy secretary-general, cited Lien as saying that the KMT would only discuss related issues with China in its capacity as an opposition party despite China's obvious intention to increase contacts with opposition parities in Taiwan while distancing itself from the DPP-led government.

  Shaw also poured cold water on the president's remarks on the interim agreement. "If Chen's government still refuses to accept the `one China' principle that Beijing sees as a precondition for the resumption of cross-strait talks, do you think Beijing would agree to sign an interim agreement with Taipei?" Shaw asked.

  Roth also met with Minister of National Defense Wu Shih-wen (伍世文) yesterday morning and People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) yesterday afternoon.

  Roth reached Taipei on Wednesday evening but has refused to give interviews. He had been invited to attend a seminar on the role of technology in Asia sponsored by the US think tank Intellibridge that began yesterday evening.

  He is also scheduled to deliver a 30-minute speech on "triangular relations under the Bush administration" this morning, but he said on Wednesday evening that he would only touch upon the "conceptual" part of the topic.

  When asked whether he would reveal the decision-making process behind Clinton's policy towards Taiwan and China in his upcoming speech, Roth's answer was direct: "in another 20 years."

  Roth is the first Clinton administration official to visit Taiwan since the transition of the US presidency took place on Jan. 20. He visited Taiwan for the first time in 1981 in his capacity as the legislative assistant to former Representative Stephen Solarz. The last time Roth visited Taiwan was in December 1996 before he was sworn in as assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs on Aug. 5, 1997.
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