Taiwan presidential candidates tell US they are their own men
Taipei - The presidential candidates of Taiwan's ruling and opposition parties said Wednesday that they would be their own leaders after the United States expressed worry that outgoing President Chen Shui-bian would bind the hands of the future president with an independence-related referendum.
'After May 20 next year if I became the president, definitely, I would be the one to give orders, and there is no need for [the US] to worry about that,' said Frank Hsieh, standardbearer of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party.
He said that before the May 20 inauguration, Chen would still be the one in charge of Taiwan, but after that, he does not think Chen would be able to influence him or 'make any decision on my behalf' if Hsieh became the president.
Hsieh is running for the top post in the March 22 election against Ma Ying-jeou, the presidential candidate of the opposition Nationalist Party, or Kuomintang.
Ma also said he would be his own man if elected president. He stressed the referendum result would not box him in and he would seek cross-strait reconciliation and peace.
Hsieh's and Ma's comments came a day after a top US official for Taiwan relations expressed concern over whether there would be a peaceful transfer of power after the independence-leaning Chen steps down after two four-year terms in office and whether Chen would hog-tie Taiwan's new leader with the referendum he wants to hold alongside the presidential election seeking membership for the island in the United Nations under the name of Taiwan.
Washington has called the referendum unnecessary and a mistake that would escalate cross-strait tension and affect regional stability.
Beijing, which considers Taiwan a part of China although the two sides split at the end of a civil war in 1949, has warned the island against holding the referendum, which it sees as a first step toward declaring independence. China has said it would attack Taiwan should it declare independence.
Raymond Burghardt, board chairman of the American Institute in Taiwan, which represents US interests in the absence of official ties, came to the island Saturday to convey concerns from 'highest-level' US officials over the planned referendum, especially the impact if the measure passes.
He talked with Chen Monday and asked him what would be his next step if the referendum passed.
In an unprecedented move, the institute chairman held a news conference Tuesday, telling reporters before ending his four-day visit that the US felt that the upcoming UN referendum would harm regional stability and taint the new president.
'The referendum isn't fair to the new president of Taiwan,' he said. 'The referendum will - just the process of having the referendum - will make it harder for a new president of Taiwan to develop better relations across the Taiwan Strait.'
@2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur