Vice President Lien Chan stated today that the ROC government does not wish to see a worsening of US-Chinese mainland relations which may result in regional tensions and have a serious impact on other nations.
He said that the recent mistaken bombing of the Chinese mainland's embassy in Yugoslavia has put a strain on Washington-Peking relations.
Vice President Lien made the remarks this morning in an exclusive interview with Karen Elliott House, President of the International Group of Dow Jones & Company.
"The US and the Chinese mainland should seek to resolve the issue through consultations and not by magnifying the problem," he said.
The Vice President told Ms. House, who supervises all Dow Jones overseas publications, including the Asian Wall Street Journal and CNBC, that the people and government of the ROC hope the US and the Chinese mainland will resolve their disputes in a calm and rational manner, which he believes will attach constructive and positive significance to peace and stability of the international community.
Ms. House is an influential senior journalist in the American press and a Pulitzer Prize winner. Together with Nancy Smith, editor of the Dow Jones group's Asian Wall Street Journal Editorial Page, and Russell Flannery, the journal's correspondent in Taiwan, she conducted an exclusive interview with Vice President Lien at the Presidential Office this morning.
The Vice President said that in addition to acknowledging US concerns expressed in open declarations and official reports about the Chinese mainland's missile threat against Taiwan, he also hopes the US will, in accordance with the Taiwan Relations Act, continue to sell Taiwan sufficient defensive weapons to safeguard the balance across the Taiwan Strait.
"Nonetheless," he stressed, "the ROC will rely on the joint efforts of its citizenry and military to safeguard national security and defense, rather than depend on any foreign powers for protections."
Regarding the visit scheduled for this fall by Mr. Wang Daohan, Chairman of Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait, the Vice President first expressed his welcome for Mr. Wang. He further indicated that Mr. Wang will be the first high-ranking representative of the Chinese to visit Taiwan in the past 50 years, and his visit is a sign that relations between the two sides are progressing. "It is expected that such progress will create an opportunity for the two sides to resume institutionalized consultations at an early date in order to further set up channels to promote bilateral exchanges, thus helping ensure the rights and interests of people on both sides," the Vice President said.
As for ROC-US relations, Vice President Lien stated that the two nations share many common ideals and interests, and have developed a mutually beneficial economic and trade relationship over the years. "In the future, the ROC will, based on existing solid foundations, strengthen and maintain communications with various sectors in the US, so that the American people will better understand the ROC's democratic institutions, economic strength, security needs, as well as the benefits of mutual exchanges. This will help to further upgrade ROC-US relations," he said.