Chen made the remarks when he met with James Steinberg, deputy national security adviser to former U.S. President Bill Clinton, at the Presidential Office.

He noted that after the March 1996 crisis when China test-fired missiles into the Taiwan Strait in the run up to the first popular presidential election in Taiwan, Steinberg was appointed by Clinton in December that year to engage in dialogue with Ding Mou-shih, then-secretary general of the National Security Council, over Taiwan-U.S. relations and cross-strait issues.

Chen said the dialogue mechanism continued through to the George W. Bush administration.

But he said the dialogue has been disrupted for some time and that the United States seems to think public statements by the U.S. State Department and the director of the Taipei office of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) can replace the dialogue mechanism. The AIT is authorized by the U.S. government to handle relations with Taiwan in the absence of diplomatic ties.

He said it is wrong to resort to public statements on issues of mutual concern, adding that both sides should seek a channel for private communications and urged a speedy resumption of the dialogue mechanism.

On cross-strait disputes and differences, the United States can be a balancer in terms of interests and values as well as a force to defend peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, he added.

More important is that if there are cross-strait disputes and differences, the U.S. should play the role of arbitrator, he continued.

“If the United States cannot play the role of an objective and impartial arbitrator, but chooses to take sides in the Taiwan Strait, especially the side of China, then it will be of little help in resolving historical differences,” Chen said.

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