The US has played down the Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) government's decision to add the words "Issued in Taiwan" to the cover of its passports, saying the action will not change things from Washington's perspective.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said that the addition of the words to the passport cover "doesn't affect how we deal with travel by or travel documents of the people in Taiwan. That's the bottom line for us."
Boucher refused to comment on Beijing's complaints that the move could be seen as another step toward Taiwanese independence or whether it signifies a change in Taiwan's official name, the Republic of China.
"I don't think I want to speculate any more broadly on what the change might imply," Boucher told reporters.
Boucher also refused to get involved in the meaning of the fact that the change was made during a meeting in Taiwan of the Formosan Association for Public Affairs, a major Taiwan lobbying group based in Washington whose roots are in the Taiwan independence movement.
"Taiwan authorities have said this does not represent any particular change in policy for them," he said.
"We take them at their word, and it won't affect how we deal with the documents or travelers."
The vast majority of people from Taiwan, including the nation's officialdom, have always enjoyed virtually-free access to the US.
The top leaders, including the president and vice president, have been limited to transit visas en route to Latin America and elsewhere.
These stops were tightly controlled, limited generally to overnight airport stopovers until last year, when Chen was allowed to stop off in New York for three days of meetings and sightseeing and another stopover in Houston en route home, although he was barred from making any public pronouncements.
Similar treatment was accorded earlier this month during the New York transit stop of Vice President Annette Lu.
Still, Taiwanese routinely travel back and forth between Taiwan and the US on visas, often finding jobs and gaining permanent residency or citizenship.
Several members of Congress, who met with Chen in New York last year, have pushed for looser rules that would allow the president and other top leaders to make public statements in the US.
The National Press Club has a standing invitation for him to speak at a public club function.
However, the terms and para-meters of the US' "unofficial" relations with Taiwan prohibit that, and there appears to be no serious effort afloat to change those terms in the near future.
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