Taipei, April 9 (CNA) President Chen Shui-bian said Monday he earnestly hopes that the current U.S.-mainland China standoff over the military aircraft collision incident will not have any adverse impact on the U.S. arms sales to Taiwan.
Chen made the remarks while meeting with visiting U.S. Senator John D. Rockefeller (D-W.Va) at the Presidential Office.
"We are concerned about the 'collision' incident and are hopeful that the weeklong Washington-Beijing standoff over this matter can come to a close very soon," Chen told his guest.
It was the first time that President Chen has publicly touched on the issue regarding a midair collision between a U.S. EP-3 surveillance plane and a mainland Chinese jet fighter over South China Sea April 1.
Chen expressed his hopes that the U.S. government can use wisdom to resolve the issue peacefully through diplomatic channels in the shortest possible period of time.
As the Republic of China and the United States are scheduled to discuss Taiwan's arms procurement plans for 2001 later this month, President Chen said he looks forward to seeing delinking of the "collision" incident and ROC-U.S. arms deals.
Chen went on to say that although Washington and Beijing have engaged in close exchanges over a long period of time and have taken some confidence-building measures (CBM), the military aircraft collision incident still took place.
"The event has given us a great lesson. As the two sides of the Taiwan Strait has not forged any CBM, the consequences could be very grave if such a similar incident were to happen in the Taiwan Strait," Chen said, adding that he sees an urgent need for Taiwan and mainland China to craft out a CBM mechanism.
Chen further said he is very happy to see Rockefeller visit Taiwan again. He also expressed gratitude for Rockefeller's contribution to peace and security in the Taiwan Strait on behalf of the ROC government and people.
Noting that Rockefeller has often stood up for Taiwan's national cause at critical moments, Chen said the ROC government and people are grateful for the U.S. senator's contribution to Taiwan Strait peace and stability.
Chen said he is hopeful that Rockefeller can continue supporting the ROC's bid to join the World Health Organization (WHO) as an observer.
"When the WHO holds its annual congress in Geneva later this year, U.S. Congress members can exercise their clout to push other WHO member states to support our observer status bid," Chen said.
For his part, Rockefeller said he is also worrying about possible adverse effects of the ongoing U.S.-mainland China standoff over the "collision" incident on Taiwan-U.S. arms deals.
Rockefeller said he has expressed his concern to the U.S. executive branch and urged the Bush administration not to link arms sales consideration to the "collision" incident.
The senator further said he is willing to play an intermediary role between the United States and the two sides of the Taiwan Strait and work for the development of constructive Taiwan-U.S.-mainland China relations.
Also present at the meeting were Raymond Burghardt, head of the Taipei office of the American Institute in Taiwan, which represents U.S. interests in Taiwan in the absence of formal diplomatic ties, and ROC Vice Foreign Minister Wu Tzu-dan.