China urges U.S. not to grant Chen visa

Bush's comments went past previous official U.S. statements on Taiwan

In this story: Intimidation Arms sales U.S. visits RELATED STORIES, SITES

By staff and wire reports

BEIJING, China -- China's Foreign Ministry is urging Washington not to grant a transit visa to the President of Taiwan.

President Chen Shui-bian wants to make a stopover in the United States en-route to Latin American next month.

Beijing said, however, that Washington should halt official exchanges and contacts with Taiwan, risking damaging relations with the mainland.

"We firmly opposed any official exchanges or contacts between the United States and Taiwan, and firmly oppose the 'transit' by Chen Shui-bian through the United States, a foreign ministry statement said Saturday.

"We have already issued solemn representations to the United States on this matter. We hope that the United States will uphold the One China policy, and respect the three Sino-U.S. joint communiques and other promises the U.S. has made," it said.

"The U.S. should halt official exchanges and contacts with Taiwan, and should not permit Chen Shui-bian to 'transit' through the United States, in order to avoid damaging U.S.-China relations."

U.S. and diplomatic sources say the Bush administration is considering letting Chen meet U.S. congressmen during his anticipated stopover.

The meeting would come as the U.S. and China, which considers Taiwan a renegade province, engage in a battle of words over the recent spy plane standoff and U.S. arms sales to Taiwan.

U.S. President George W. Bush infuriated China this week by saying the U.S. would do "whatever it takes" to defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion.

Officially, however, the U.S. still recognizes the single China policy, which considers Taiwan and Tibet to be a part of mainland China.

Chinese nationalists established themselves on Taiwan when communists took power in Beijing in 1949. Beijing insists Taiwan is part of China and says the island will be reunified with the mainland, by force if necessary.

Intimidation

Beijing has for many years chosen the stretch of water dividing it from Taiwan as a theatre for military exercises in a way that is seen by the West as an attempt to intimidate the island. It is said to have as many as 300 ballistic missiles along the coast of the Taiwan Strait.

China Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhang Qiyue

Chen intends to visit five Latin American countries in late May to bolster ties as part of his island's efforts to break out of its diplomatic isolation. As part of that trip, Chen has asked to "transit" the United States, making stops in Houston and New York, the sources said.

Taiwan also has asked that Chen be granted permission to meet American congressmen on both of those stopovers.

Diplomatic sources said an announcement granting the request was expected soon, but a U.S. official told Reuters the administration was "still working through the modalities" with Taiwanese authorities.

However, the official acknowledged the request for Chen to meet the American congressmen was "under serious discussion."

Bush's first 100 days in office have been dominated by the verbal spat with China

Some members of the U.S. Congress have been asked if they would be willing to meet with Chen, a congressional source said.

Bush and his top advisors have begun establishing themselves as more assertively pro-Taiwan than previous U.S. administrations.

Arms sales

Bush this week approved the largest sale of arms to Taiwan in a decade and promised to defend Taiwan against Chinese aggression, while some China experts say his "whatever it takes" comment goes far beyond past U.S. policy.

The arms sales were scaled back from an original proposal to sell Taiwan advanced destroyers equipped with the U.S.-made Aegis radar system. Instead the U.S. will sell it four older-class destroyers. China has warned that the United States is heading "further down a dangerous road" by making public statements about protecting Taiwan from a mainland attack.

Beijing's sentiments were made public during a regular briefing at China's Foreign Ministry. President Bush should "take back his comments," as well as cancel the planned arms sale to Taiwan, spokesperson Zhang Qiyue said.

The United States has formal diplomatic relations with China but only "unofficial" relations with Taiwan, the free-market democracy that Beijing considers a renegade province.

Fearing protests from Beijing and circumscribed by law, Washington has allowed only brief stops on U.S. soil by Taiwan leaders who have been only permitted to meet privately with a restricted list of visitors, mostly Chinese-Americans.

Under pressure from Congress, former President Bill Clinton made an exception in 1995 when then-President Lee Teng-hui was permitted to attend an alumni event at his alma mater, Cornell University.

U.S. visits

Clinton's decision touched off a crisis in Sino-American relations that led China to carry out large-scale military exercises, firing missiles near Taiwan's two largest ports.

The Bush administration announced previously that it would grant Lee, now retired, a visa to visit Cornell again May 2-4.

But after a five-day visit to Japan that riled China, Lee, who has heart problems, returned to Taipei on Thursday and said he would delay his U.S. trip one month for medical rest.

Last year on his first trip as president, Chen made a stopover in Los Angeles. But under pressure from the Clinton administration, he avoided high-profile meetings with U.S. lawmakers.

U.S. officials said that if the administration allows the meetings with congressmen, Chen would be asked to keep the meetings private.

"To the extent there will be any change (in the U.S. approach), it will be modest and (the stopover) will remain in the spirit of a private stay," one official said.

"This is not going to change the nature of U.S.-Taiwan relations," he added.

A Republican congressional aide predicted that Congress would enthusiastically welcome such a shift and that prominent congressmen would be eager to meet with Chen.

Meanwhile, China has rebuked Australian Prime Minister John Howard after he said he understood comments by U.S. President George W. Bush on Taiwan and did not want to see any Chinese aggression against the island.

Ren Xiao Ping, spokeswoman for the Chinese embassy in Australia, said the embassy was "not happy" with Howard's remarks about Taiwan.

"At the moment, Sino-American relations are at a very sensitive and complicated period of time and we think Prime Minister John Howard's remarks are very inappropriate, which confuses right and wrong," Ren told Australian Broadcasting Corp radio.

The Associated Press & Reuters contributed to this report.

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Chinese Foreign Ministry Website
The White House

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