Taipei, Dec. 1 (CNA) President Chen Shui-bian said Wednesday he looks forward to the day that Taiwan and the United States can trust each other without suspicions.
Chen made the remarks while meeting with Olene Walker, governor of Utah, who is currently visiting Taipei.
The president took advantage of the meeting to express his gratitude for a positive response from the U.S. State Department to his reaffirmation a day earlier regarding his commitment to upholding his "four noes" pledge while formulating a new constitution and policy toward relations across the Taiwan Strait. "I'm grateful for the United States' positive response to my reaffirmation and I earnestly hope that our two countries can become closer without any mistrust," Chen told his guest.
He stressed that Taiwan's proposed new constitution would be formulated in line with Taiwan's constitutional system and would not contradict his previous commitments on cross-strait issues.
Under Taiwan's constitution-amending procedures, Chen said, the new constitution draft requires the consent of three-fourths of legislators before it is put to a nationwide referendum.
Even if the "pan-green camp" of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) manages to win a simple majority in the new Legislature Yuan to be elected Dec. 11, Chen said it is unlikely the "pan-green" camp will control three-fourths of the 225 legislative seats. "Against this backdrop, the opposition camp, with more than one-fourth of the legislative seats, will be able to play a check-and-balance role in writing our new constitution and thus help ensure steady proceedings in our constitutional re-engineering work," Chen explained.
The president further said his new constitution proposal would not violate his previous commitments on cross-strait relations, including the "four noes" pledge articulated in his May 2000 inaugural address, which he reaffirmed in his second inaugural address. "The commitments on constitutional reform and cross-strait relations that I have promised remain unchanged, and there will be absolutely no change through the rest of my term in office, " Chen said.
He reiterated that pursuing permanent peaceful development on both sides of the Taiwan Strait and completing normalization of cross-strait relations are the top mission of his second term. "I sincerely hope the two sides of the Taiwan Strait can resume dialogue on the foundation of their 1992 Hong Kong talks," Chen said, adding he believes that the next two years are crucial for the development of cross-strait ties.
At a campaign rally last weekend, Chen vowed to hold a referendum in 2006 on a new constitution for implementation from May 20, 2008.
Asked whether Chen's push for a new constitution violated his earlier commitments on preserving the status quo across the Taiwan Strait, U.S. State Department Richard Boucher said Monday that the Taiwan leader's earlier "pledges were very, very important, and they need to be respected." "As far as whether any other ideas or proposals contradict that or not, I think he'll have to explain," Boucher said.
On Tuesday, Chen took advantage of his meeting with a visiting U.S. congressional delegation headed by Rep. John Culberson (R-Texas) to reaffirm that had not wavered in his previous commitments.
Asked about the U.S. views on Chen's reaffirmation during a daily press briefing in Washington, D.C. later that day, Boucher said: "We saw the statement...and we certainly welcome any comments that say he does hold to them [Chen's pledges] and he's not going to undertake any actions that would contradict them."