Chen needs more sincerity to solve issues
Hai Xia  Updated: 2004-10-14 08:51

The peace overture in Chen Shui-bian's "Double Ten National Day" speech turned out to be another sham.

One of Chen's major announcements, which was considered to be something new in his speech, was his call for Taiwan and the mainland to use the 1992 Hong Kong Meeting as a basis to seek "not necessarily perfect but acceptable schemes" for furthering cross-Straits talks.

This has therefore been viewed by some as an olive branch by Chen.

Nevertheless, Chen's suggestion to base future cross-Straits talks on the 1992 meeting was nothing more than word-play.

He steered away from the terms "1992 consensus" and one-China principle, and spoke instead of using "the basis of the 1992 meeting in Hong Kong." He did so simply because he has consistently denied the existence of the 1992 consensus.

Under an informal verbal agreement between the mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits and Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation in November 1992, the two sides of the Straits adhere to the one-China principle.

Known as the 1992 Consensus there after, it finally led to a series of ice-breaking meetings across the Straits.

Talks broke off in July 1999 when former Taiwan leader Lee Teng-hui redefined cross-Straits ties as a "state-to-state relationship."

Chen, however, has denied the existence of the consensus in a bid to shun the one-China principle since he took office in May 2000.

Chen is well known as an expert of word-play.

He sometimes plays with words in order to neutralize the 1992 Consensus and avoid the one-China principle and has indeed created some leeway in ambiguous rhetoric for future reverse.

This clearly shows he has no sincerity in bettering ties with the mainland.

Chen's other major declaration in his October 10 speech that "the Republic of China (ROC) is Taiwan, and Taiwan is ROC" further mirrors his baseline of "Taiwan's independence."

Many wonder whether Taiwan audience was the main target of Chen's speech.

His latest address was once again decorated with empty platitudes like "public welfare, peace and goodwill."

Chen knows the value of overseas sympathy in his attempts to internationalize his case. He also knows there is no legal grounds for his independence pursuit under the framework of current international law and norms.

No valid international law can lend legitimacy to his fantasy of defining Taiwan as a sovereign state independent of China.

What most of the overseas audience heard, however, were the very latest, and the most beguiling words of a slippery politician.

(China Daily)

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