Fri, Jul 21, 2000 page2

• Lu cautious of goodwill

  CROSS-STRAIT TIES The vice president said pressure from the US was behind Beijing's recent friendly moves

  • By Lin Chieh-yu / STAFF REPORTER
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  The Vice President, Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), yesterday expressed her worries about the expressions of goodwill voiced by Chinese leaders recently.

  She said she thought there might be some discreet understanding arising from private negotiations between China and the US, to encourage Beijing leaders to evince more positive sentiments toward Taiwan's new government.

  "The recent expressions of goodwill from Beijing were late and sudden, especially, coming as they did, hot on the heels of the visit to China by the United States Defense Secretary," Lu told reporters.

  

  Vice President Annette Lu speaks at the annual conference of the Asia Taiwanese Chambers of Commerce yesterday, while Legislative Yuan speaker Wang Jin-pyng, right, looks on. Lu's criticism of the KMT's 50-year rule in her speech prompted an immediate rebuttal from Wang.

  PHOTO: CHUANG CHUNG-LUNG, LIBERTY TIMES

  She made the remarks during afternoon tea with reporters in a guest room at the President's Office.

  The meeting had been billed as private and unofficial but the vice president made a series of on-the-record comments, after being encouraged to do so by reporters.

  Lu said that China neither accepted President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) expressions of goodwill, nor was willing to echo the president's appeal for cooperation made during his first press conference after his inauguration, one month into his term.

  "We don't know what Cohen discussed with China, so I am anxious and uneasy about it," Lu said.

  The vice president said that Taiwan's destiny had not been controlled by Taiwanese during the past 10 years, especially in important historical moments, and that since becoming vice president, she has therefore repeatedly promoted her "three yes'" policy to the international community when receiving foreign guests.

  "I use these opportunities to say that Taiwan insists on `three conditions' to which the international community should say `yes.'"

  She said the three conditions were that the future of cross-strait relations should be solved by peaceful means; that Taiwanese could only change Taiwan's statehood by democratic means; and that people from both sides of the Taiwan Strait had the right to participate in any negotiation to express their opinion.

  She said, however, that she still approved of expressions of goodwill, which encouraged leaders of both sides to create "friendly language" for dialogue.

  "Beijing's leaders recently referred to China as the `Mainland,' a term which they have never used before, and said that they could accept a visit to China by [Taiwan] Legislative Yuan Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) with the formal title of `Chinese Taiwan Legislative Yuan Speaker.'

  "I think they [Beijing] realize that it is not helpful to insist on the `one China' principle," Lu said.

  She also said that the old generation of politicians on both sides were used to making allusions to ancient Chinese poetry during negotiations, but now Taiwan's new government should take advantage of the rich language of the Taiwanese dialect to create a new rhetoric for improving the atmosphere in cross-strait negotiations.

  "Just as I said last year when I was nominated by President Chen as his running mate, leaders from both sides should say more `sweet words' (甜言蜜語)."

  "And I heard that China's President Jiang Zemin (江澤民) also used such words recently," Lu said. "It proved that we can talk gently instead of fiercely."

  On other matters she said that she would urge President Chen to hold the National Affairs Conference at an appropriate time in the near future because disputes on some important issues were becoming serious.

  "Taiwan's biggest enemy is not outside the island but inside. People cannot reach a consensus, whether on issues of constitutional reform, cross-strait relations, or even financial policy," said Lu.

  "The proper time to hold the National Affairs Conference may be after the recess in the Legislative Yuan's current session in late July," Lu said.
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