The US has again cautioned President Chen Shui-bian (
"I'd repeat our basic policy that our interest is in maintaining a peaceful and stable situation in the Taiwan Strait," Department of State spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters in Washington. "We would oppose any unilateral steps to change the status quo across the Taiwan Strait."
Boucher conceded that the US government was not clear on what, exactly, Chen meant in the interview, which was reported on the front page of Tuesday's Post. He said he was not responding specifically to the newspaper report, but was reiterating Washington's basic position on the cross-strait situation.
In the interview, the Post said Chen maintained a "hard line" on cross-strait issues, including his plans for a new constitution.
"I think we have reached an internal consensus that insists on Taiwan being an independent, sovereign country," the Post quoted Chen as saying.
In the interview, Chen also denied that a new constitution would be aimed at independence, saying it was intended to solve problems of a domestic nature with the current Constitution.
It "is not a timetable for independence or any attempt to change the status quo," he was quoted as saying.
While Chen expressed a desire to improve relations with China and resume talks, he said as long as Beijing insists on the "one China" principle as a precondition for contacts, "then, I believe the two sides will be forever deadlocked, major differences cannot be solved, and it will be impossible for both sides to sit down and talk," he said.
Boucher, however, said, "We really don't know what the specifics would be of what President Chen might have in mind."
He also noted the so-called "five noes" Chen enunciated in his May 2000 inauguration speech, pledging not to declare independence, change Taiwan's name, institutionalize a state-to-state theory, hold a referendum on independence or unification, or abolish the National Unification Council or Guidelines for National Unification.
"We appreciate those pledges from 2000 and the subsequent reaffirmation of it. And we'd still take it very seriously," Boucher said.
He said the policy against changes in the status quo is "remarkably consistent" with the policy Washington expressed in voicing its opposition to Chen's plan for an election-day referendum.
"The policy is the same," he said. "There is no point in changing it every time somebody says something if our views are the same.
"I'm here to express our views, not to comment or give you an analysis on whether somebody else has changed his views or said something different.
"US policy is quite clear on this matter," he said.
In early December, US President George W. Bush warned against moves that would unilaterally alter the status quo.
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