Chen worries about United States’ China ‘slant’

“We are more and more concerned about the United States slanting towards China. We are troubled by this,” Chen was cited as telling American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Chairman Raymond F. Burghardt during his transit stop at the Anchorage airport.

Chen told Burghardt that Taipei is not worried that Washington would “sell out” Taiwan, but he is worried that while Taiwan is defending its values, the United States is defending its interests, according presidential spokesman Lee Nan-yang.

Chen said China’s persecution of Taiwan does not come directly “from Beijing to Taipei,” but goes “from Beijing to Washington and then to Taipei.”

Chen was speaking in the wake of U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte’s latest rebuke of the president’s call for a referendum on the bid apply U.N. membership using the name of Taiwan.

Negroponte has called Chen’s referendum plan a “mistake,” which Washington would consider “a declaration of independence of Taiwan, towards an alteration of the status quo.”

It has been said that Chen was denied extended stopovers on U.S. soil during his visit to Central America, as Washington wanted to punish Chen for his referendum plan.

Chen yesterday declined to get off the plane during his transit stop in Alaska on his way home from Central America, in what was considered his protest against U.S. opposition to his referendum plan.

The president declined an invitation by the AIT chairman to meet people waiting at the airport, and instead had an almost two-hour long conversation with Burghardt on board his plane, according to the presidential spokesman.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) reiterated that the United States has misinterpreted Taiwan’s referendum plan, and it will continue to communicate with Washington on the issue.

MOFA spokesman David Wang repeated Foreign Minister James Huang’s remarks made Aug. 27 in Nicaragua where he was accompanying Chen on a state visit, in response to Negroponte’s recent criticism.

Wang said the MOFA regrets that the U.S. official has characterized the referendum plan as a step towards Taiwan’s independence.

“Such an interpretation is not right at all,” Wang said, adding that holding such a referendum is a domestic affair.

He reiterated Huang’s remarks that the referendum is “a peaceful way for the public to express its opinion.”

Chen arrived in Anchorage, Alaska at 11:20 a.m. Wednesday, Taipei time, for a transit stop, after concluding a three-nation visit to Central America.

The U.S. government had reportedly refused to let Chen to stopover in any major U.S. cities other than Anchorage or to stay overnight during his transit stops.

On his first brief transit stop in Anchorage on Aug. 21 en route to Honduras, Chen expressed regret with the U.S. restrictions, calling the treatment “inconvenient, uncomfortable and indecent.”

His second transit stop in Anchorage lasted less than an hour. The president’s plane was scheduled to arrive at the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 9:45 p.m. Wednesday, Taipei time.

Chen departed Taiwan Aug. 21 for his Central America visit to attend the sixth leadership summit between Taiwan and its diplomatic allies in the region. The summit was held Aug. 23 in Tegucigalpa, the capital city of Honduras.

After a four-day visit in Honduras, Chen headed to El Salvador Aug. 24, from where he traveled to Nicaragua Aug. 26.

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