Taipei - Selections by topic of the exclusive interview by
Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa with Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian:
On cross-Strait relations and independence:
'In response to our high expectations for peaceful dialogue with
China, China responded with the deployment of missiles and also the
passage of the anti-secession law. China does not recognize Taiwan to
be an independent, sovereign country. Moreover, it treats Taiwan as
its local government. In the foreseeable future, I don't think that
the two sides of the Taiwan Strait will go for unification. Quite the
contrary, it is very likely that the actions taken by Beijing
authorities will force the people of Taiwan to take more actions
toward further independence.'
'It is very clear that Beijing has always taken a very hostile
posture toward Taiwan since it has never agreed to renounce the use
of force against Taiwan. Moreover, it has also passed the so-called
anti-secession law in order to lay a legal foundation for a future
military invasion of Taiwan.
'When we look at the missiles that China has deployed along its
south-east coast: Back in the year 2000, the number of missiles was
200. Now the number of missiles has amounted to 988. And these are
truly provocative gestures that China has posed toward Taiwan.
Moreover, it is also extremely destabilizing for the Asia-Pacific
region in terms of the maintenance of peace, security and stability.'
'Instead of a peaceful emergence of China, as it claims, we see it
as a military emergence of China.'
'In the face of a long-term military intimidation plus the
suppression in the diplomatic arena internationally in addition to
the United Front tactics employed by China in cross-Strait trade and
economic relations, it has made Taiwan people more and more aware of
their own national identity. Moreover, it has prompted the people to
be more persistent on adopting a Taiwan-centric consciousness.'
On help from the United States and Japan in case of war:
'First of all, we have to rely on ourselves. ... If you only rely
on others to defend your side or your country, you are bound to be
defeated.'
'The US is bound by the Taiwan Relations Act, and, therefore, it
is obligated to help Taiwan to enhance its self-defence capabilities
and also help Taiwan to defend itself.
'We appreciate the US government's approval of US arms sales to
Taiwan in order to enhance and improve our national defence
capabilities. We also appreciate very much that ... the US and Japan
in February 2005 included the Taiwan issue as a common strategic
objective of the two countries. ... We know, of course, there is the
existence of the security pact between the US and Japan, and it has
also incorporated the so-called situations in the surrounding sea
into this security pact and also extended the surrounding sea to the
Taiwan Strait and the sea surrounding Taiwan.
'We also appreciate the US and Japan urging the EU not to lift the
arms embargo against China. We think that Taiwan not only shares the
common and universal values with the US and Japan - we call this an
alliance of values - we are also the best partner in terms of
security with the US and Japan. Even though there is not the
existence of formal diplomatic ties between Taiwan and Japan and
Taiwan and the US, but in terms of military exchange and cooperation,
we have had very intensive interactions.'
On economic dependency from China:
'Indeed, Taiwan's economy is tilting toward China, gradually
becoming overdependent on the Chinese market. This is indeed a great
risk that we are likely to face, and we have to be very cautious
about this. But actually, when the two sides have more exchanges in
terms of economy and trade, China also begins to become dependent on
Taiwan in certain aspects. China wants to use its business influence
to play more roles in terms of manoeuvring and influencing our
politics, but the Taiwan businessmen are also becoming more
influential in China.'
'We certainly would not see it as our only destination, our only
market for Taiwan or our last hope. It is only one of our very
important markets in our strategy to deeply cultivate Taiwan, mapping
out and reaching out to the world. ... Taiwan would certainly not
place its economic lifeline and all of our economic resources on the
Chinese market only.'
On democracy and Asian values:
'Democracy is part of the universal values. It should not heed the
boundary of West or East or Europe or Asia. At least you can see
Taiwan is the best example and rebuttal for such a myth that Asian
values can not co-exist with democracy. ... If you look at Japan,
they also have democracy. It is not true that democracy would not
work in Asia. ... We can't say democracy does not fit to Asia just
because China cannot implement full democracy. If you look at the
history of Taiwan, you will notice for over half a century, Taiwan
was under authoritarian rule, and the dictators in the past have also
rejected democracy.
'In Taiwan, we have seen long-term martial law, for 38 years. ...
In the past, whenever we tried to promote democratic reform, the
authoritarian regime always replied with, 'Democracy does not fit in
our culture and customs.' ...We have proven to the world that
democracy works in Taiwan, and we think democracy would work in
China, too. We believe that Taiwan's democracy is a success story and
Taiwan's democracy also serves as the best missile defence for
Taiwan. Taiwan's success in democracy also is a lighthouse to the 1.3
billion people of China.'
On corruption charges against him:
'Currently, the state affairs funds case is under trial, and we
fully respect the judicial process. And as I have said many time
before, not a penny of the state affairs fund has gone into a private
pocket. All of this money has been used to conduct confidential
diplomatic work or state affairs.
'Regarding the special allowances case, the former chairman of the
Kuomintang [KMT], Ma Ying-jeou, has been charged with corruption, and
I believe the court will very soon start the trial. The prosecutors
have pointed out that Mr Ma Ying-jeou has put his special allowance
into his private pocket. We don't know what the truth is, but we know
that Mr Ma Ying-jeou will face the trial and judicial process.
'But according to Article 52, the president has this criminal
exemption, and also according to the constitution, he also has the
privilege and right to conduct confidential state affairs. ... I am
fully confident of my innocence, and I am positive and certain that
history will clear my name and that our judiciary will restore my
reputation.'
About his legacy:
'In the year 2000, we had this historic event of seeing the first
ever peaceful transfer of power and alteration of the political party
in power, and there was no shedding of blood - there was not any kind
of violence that occurred during the process. ... Moreover, if we
look at what happened last year, our judiciary is able to issue
subpoenas to the family members of the president or even detain a
suspect who is a family member of the president. That signifies the
price of Taiwan becoming a country that truly abides by the rule of
law, and this is also a valuable asset that we have earned.
'At the latter half of last year, we saw the so-called red-shirt
army staging many protests on the streets. And I think without the
maturity of the people of Taiwan in terms of embracing democratic
values and the principles of democracy and without the fact that we
have made a lot of efforts in building up a truly nationalized army
that is not controlled by any individual or political party, that
truly belongs to the people, I don't think those protests staged by
the red-shirt army could have seen a peaceful ending.
'I think the noises and chaos after the presidential election in
2004 and also the protests staged by the red-shirt army last year
posed the biggest tests to Taiwan's democracy. But we have passed
these very severe tests, and we can say that now we are a country
that truly enjoys democracy, freedom and the rule of law.'
'In the year 2003, we passed our first ever referendum act, and in
2004, we held our first ever national referendum, and in the year
2005, we have incorporated the right of referendum into our
constitution, and in 2006, my government seized the function of the
national unification council and seized the application of the
national unification guidelines. This means that we no longer limit
the choice of our people regarding our future to the ultimate
unification. And regarding Taiwan's future and the future relations
between the two sides of the strait, we leave the choices open to our
23 million people. They could choose according to their free will.
'Before the year 2000, before I became president of Taiwan, both
Taiwan and China held the view of the existence of one China, but
after the alteration of the political party in power here in Taiwan,
we took pride in saying that more countries and more people in the
world now understand that Taiwan is very different from China and
that Taiwan and China are two separate entities and two separate
countries and across the Taiwan strait there is one country on each
side.'
On his successor:
'It is very unlikely that the president will come from KMT, and it
is very unlikely that it will be Ma Ying-jeou. We believe that the
next person sitting in this chair will be someone from our party, the
Democratic Progressive Party. And who will be the one from DPP? I
don't know, but I am sure that this person will be from the DPP.'
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
USA
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