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Updated Thursday, November 13, 2008 9:48 am TWN, By Erika Wang, The China Post

AIT chief regrets violence during ARATS chair visit

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- The United States welcomed the recent dialogue between Taiwan and China and regrets violence that occurred during the visit of the chairman of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS), said the top U.S. official in Taiwan yesterday.

“I think last week’s visit by (ARATS) Chairman Chen Yunlin has shown that the majority of people here in Taiwan and around the world want China and Taiwan to try to work out their differences through mutual dialogue,” said Stephen M. Young, director of the American Institute in Taiwan.

Chen arrived last Monday at the head of a 60-member delegation and stayed until Nov. 7. The ARATS chief was in Taiwan to sign four agreements, namely on flights, direct maritime shipping, mail service, and food safety with his counterpart P. K. Chiang, head of the Straits Exchange Foundation, Taiwan’s semi-official organization like ARATS charged with conducting “non-governmental” relations between Taiwan and China.

“We believe the four agreements signed this past week helped further regional peace, stability and prosperity,” said Young during a routine press conference attended by local and international media in Taiwan.

“The United States welcomes any cooperation and any agreement that improves relations across the Taiwan Strait, so long as it is achieved on the basis of equality and mutual benefit and takes into account the views of the 23 million people of democratic Taiwan,” Young reiterated. “We don’t want Taiwan to be pressured or bullied into any one-sided agreements.”

On the “strategic triangle between Taipei, Beijing and Washington,” Young said he remains “confident that (the United States’) continuing efforts to build a constructive, positive relationship with an emerging People’s Republic of China will not come at Taiwan’s expense.”

“The roots of this complex triangle have been grounded for a long time now in our one-China policy, the three joint communiques, and ... the Taiwan Relations Act,” he said. “At its core, we support efforts by Taiwan and China to reduce tension in the Taiwan Strait and expand economic and trade cooperation.”

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	Stephen M. Young, director of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), gestures during a press conference yesterday in Taipei City. Young said the United States welcomed the recent dialogue between Taiwan and China and regrets the violence that occurred during the visit of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS). (Akie Ang, The China Post) Enlarge Photo


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