Taipei, Aug. 10 (CNA) President Chen Shui-bian said Friday that the mainland Chinese leadership should accept the reality of his position as president of the Republic of China to facilitate solving the "one China" dispute between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait.
Chen made the remarks while meeting with U.S. Senator Christopher Bond (R-Mo.), who arrived in Taipei Thursday for a two-day visit.
Chen said the ROC Constitution has set a tone for resolving the cross-strait "one China" dispute. "It is the best answer for dealing with the ‘one China’ issue for the governments and people of both sides of the Taiwan Strait," he added.
Noting that he was elected by the people of Taiwan as president of the ROC in accordance with the ROC Constitution, Chen said he hopes mainland China accepts him as the ROC's head of state. "If mainland China were to decline to accept this reality, it would violate the ROC Constitution. Not only me, but also the 23 million people of Taiwan could not accept such a scenario," Chen said.
The president told his guest that since he assumed office, he has given priority to promoting cross-strait rapprochement. "I have seized every possible opportunity to extend an olive branch to Beijing. I have not only hoped to resume cross-strait dialogue but have also intended to forge reconciliation, cooperation and permanent peace with mainland China," he explained.
In his view, Chen said, the informal leadership meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum to be held in Shanghai in late October provides a good setting for the top leaders of the two sides of the Taiwan Strait to meet.
Chen said he has on many occasions expressed his strong desire to attend the forthcoming APEC summit meeting in person. "Since the ROC is an APEC member, its president has the legitimate right to attend the APEC summit," he noted.
APEC, a regional economic cooperation forum, is one of the few international organizations which simultaneously accepts both mainland China and Taiwan as members. However, because of Beijing's opposition, the ROC president has been barred from personally attending the annual APEC leadership meeting in the past. As a result, the ROC head of state has had to name a proxy to take part in the event on his behalf. Chen named Central Bank of China Governor Perng Fai-nan to attend the 2000 APEC summit in Brunei.
Mainland China insists that Taiwan accept its version of the "one China" principle as a prerequisite to resuming the long-stalled cross-strait dialogue. However, Chen's administration has said that Beijing's "one China" principle is unacceptable because it downgrades the ROC to a local-level government under Beijing's jurisdiction.