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Vice President Lien's Interview with Time Magazine
1999-07-25

Taipei, July 25 (CNA) Vice President Lien Chan said that if he is elected president next year, he will adopt a three do's and three don't's policy toward mainland China.

Lien made the remarks when he was asked about his mainland policy in an interview at the Presidential Office by Terry McCarthy, director of Time's Shanghai Bureau, and Donald Shapiro, the magazine's Taipei correspondent, on July 21. The interview will be published in the Aug. 1 issue of Time.

Listing his three don't's, Lien said Taiwan does not seek independence, explaining that Taiwan cannot afford to become a Taiwan Republic. It is self-evident, however, that Taiwan is an independent sovereign state.

Second, Taiwan does not want to unify with mainland China at the present time. The conditions necessary for the two sides of the Taiwan Strait to unify do not yet exist, he said, adding that Taiwan is not anxious to unify with the mainland, as no one in Taiwan wants to live under a communist system.

Third, Taiwan does not want confrontation, though Lien said that avoiding confrontation means both sides should not attempt to irritate or reject the other, and that both should try not to create a rivalry.

As for his three do's, Lien said Taiwan does want peace, exchanges and a win-win situation between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. Exchanges are the best means of cross-strait communication, he said, adding that Taiwan wants peace to be the basis of cross-strait relations.

Elaborating on his advocacy of a "win-win situation," Lien said that if leaders on both sides of the Taiwan Strait could promote exchanges under the framework of a "win-win" concept, both sides could benefit from the exchanges.

On the timing of President Lee Teng-hui's redefinition of cross-strait relations, Lien said that the government had hoped that the new stance would give new impetus to help Taiwan conduct a high-level dialogue prior to the scheduled autumn visit to Taiwan of Wang Daohan, the mainland's top Taiwan negotiator.

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