Taiwan’s New President Backs Sino-American Trade

TAIPEI, Taiwan — In a gesture to Beijing and the Clinton administration, Taiwanese President-elect Chen Shui-bian said Tuesday that he hopes to see China enter the World Trade Organization and have normal trade relations with the United States.

“We would welcome the normalization of U.S.-China trade relations, just like we hope the cross-strait relations [between Taiwan and China] can also be normalized,” Chen said. “We look forward to both the People’s Republic of China’s and Taiwan’s accession to the WTO.”

Chen made these remarks during an hourlong exclusive interview with The Times, the first he has granted since his election Saturday as Taiwan’s next president. He will be the first leader from the Democratic Progressive Party, which has in the past advocated independence for the island. Beijing claims sovereignty over Taiwan.

Chen’s support for Sino-American trade is certain to be welcomed and distributed widely by supporters of the pending legislation to grant China normal trade benefits in the United States on a permanent basis. The bill--strongly supported by the White House and the business community, but opposed by organized labor--faces what could be a close vote later this year in the House of Representatives.

Despite the friction between Taipei and Beijing on other issues, Taiwan has a strong but little-recognized economic interest in making sure that China has normal trade relations with the United States. Many Taiwanese companies manufacture on the Chinese mainland and export their products from China to the U.S. market.

Nevertheless, over the past decade, while Hong Kong leaders repeatedly campaigned in Washington on behalf of unrestricted U.S. trade with China, Taiwan stayed in the background. Chen’s praise for Sino-American trade thus represents a departure from the approach of the outgoing Nationalist Party government.

During the wide-ranging interview at his office, Chen, looking relaxed and speaking in Mandarin Chinese through a translator, made these other points:

* He doesn’t believe that last week’s bellicose attack on his candidacy by Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji had any impact on the Taiwanese election. “The effects were not significant,” Chen said, neither scaring voters away from him nor pushing undecided Taiwanese to vote for him.

* Despite some divisions within his own party, there is a “mainstream consensus” in favor of Chen’s own pragmatic approach toward dealing with China. For example, Chen said, the Democratic Progressive Party’s mainstream agrees that Taiwan should be willing to discuss with Beijing the idea that Taiwan and the People’s Republic are both part of “one China.”

* Peace and coexistence across the Taiwan Strait will be his “top priority” as president--more important than domestic concerns such as the economy or fighting corruption. “Only with peace in the strait” can his other goals be achieved, Chen asserted.

Chen repeatedly came back to the theme that he is eager to improve Taiwan’s relations with China. He said he is trying to be especially cautious as he prepares to take office.

“Not only are the people of Taiwan watching us,” Chen said, “China is watching us. The whole world is watching us. And history is also watching us.”

Yet while proclaiming his desire for peace, Chen also made it plain that he doesn’t think Taiwan should be intimidated by China.

“What we mean by peace is a very firm and free, autonomous peace,” he said. “We don’t want the peace that is weak or peace that comes under pressure.”

Chen repeated an assurance made during his campaign that, as president, he won’t hold a popular referendum on whether Taiwan should be independent or reunified with China. The idea of such a referendum had often been proposed by leaders of his party, but China vehemently opposes it.

Furthermore, Chen promised that, despite his party’s past support for independence, as president he will not declare Taiwan to be independent “unless Taiwan faces a military attack or invasion from China.”

Asked whether he felt prepared to deal with any military action or threats from China, the president-elect replied:

“I believe that across the strait, leaders of both sides want peace. . . . The Chinese leaders have said repeatedly that ‘Chinese do not fight Chinese.’ But if they use threats or force against us, then wouldn’t that phrase be meaningless?”

Chen asserted that when leaders in Beijing threaten force against Taiwan while at the same time proclaiming that “Chinese do not fight Chinese,” their words could be interpreted to mean that “they don’t see us [Taiwanese] as Chinese.”

Although Chen said he would be willing to discuss with Beijing the idea of “one China,” he rejected Chinese President Jiang Zemin’s assertion this week that Taiwan should embrace “one China” as a precondition for talks.

If Taiwan accepted Jiang’s idea, he said, “it would be very difficult actually to enter into discussions [with China] on an equal basis.”

Instead, Chen suggested, perhaps the two governments could reach agreement on other, smaller issues that do not define Taiwan’s relationship to China.

“We feel that we can first put aside the differences and discuss areas of agreement and cooperation,” he said. “And maybe once these other areas of agreement are resolved or improved, then we would in the process gradually overcome the differences that we have and build more trust.”

Chen went out of his way to court the goodwill of the Clinton administration. Chen praised President Clinton for “his very strong and firm rejection of [China’s] threat to use force” against Taiwan.

He also quoted with approval Clinton’s recent statement that any settlement of Taiwan’s future should have the consent of the people of Taiwan.

Chen insisted that he has a sufficient mandate to govern in Taiwan, even though he won the presidency with only 39% of the vote. His closest rival, independent candidate James Soong, won 37%, while Vice President Lien Chan of the Nationalist Party, which has ruled Taiwan for 51 years, garnered 23%.

“In many countries, the presidents are elected with only 20% or 30% of the vote,” Chen said. “[Former President Fidel] Ramos of the Philippines had 20-something percent. Former South Korean President Roh Tae Woo only had 30-something percent, and President Kim Dae Jung had roughly 40%. But this did not affect their ability to govern.

“In the same way, President Kennedy defeated his opponent by only 0.1% of the vote, and that was 110,000 votes, which is a very small number compared to the population of the U.S. But this did not affect his ability to govern effectively.”

Chen is clearly hoping to broaden his political appeal beyond his party base.

“Although I am a very proud member of the Democratic Progressive Party, and I hope to continue to contribute to this party and the democratic values it represents, as president of Taiwan or as the national leader, I am the leader not just of the DPP but of the entire nation,” he said.

“And therefore, the national interest must come before partisan interests or individual interests. When there is a conflict of interest between the national interest and party interests, I must consider first the national interest.”

At the end of the interview, Chen--the son of an impoverished family in rural Taiwan who entered politics as a lawyer for imprisoned Taiwanese dissidents--said he never imagined he would become president.

“I didn’t even dream of it,” he said. “Growing up, when I was small, I was so poor, and we were under such hardship, that my first dream was to become an elementary school teacher.”

Moreover, he continued, “after I started taking part in politics, I did not imagine that one day, the president of Taiwan would be directly elected. [And] two years ago, when I lost the reelection bid for Taipei mayor, I did not know if I could stand up again.

“The spirit of Taiwan is going from having nothing to creating, and from the bottom to the top.”

* TAIWAN-CHINA LINK

A tiny island is at the vanguard of a trade effort that may bring bitter rivals closer. A10