Chen Says Preserving Peace Is Top Priority

President-elect Chen Shui-bian pledged today that preserving this island’s fragile peace with mainland China will be his primary goal in office.

“As Taiwan’s leader, my task is to protect Taiwan’s national security and enhance peace. Only then can Taiwan progress in economic normalization and democratic normalization,” Chen said in an interview with The Times. “The maintenance of peace and coexistence across the [Taiwan] Strait is the top priority.”

His comments came as Taiwan’s parliament approved direct trade and transport links between Taiwan’s offshore islands and selected mainland ports directly across the Taiwan Strait, a government official said. If approved by the president, the links would be the first direct ties between China and Taiwan in 50 years.

To achieve stability across the Taiwan Strait, Chen said he would be willing to discuss any issue in talks with Beijing, including the nebulous idea of “one China,” which maintains that the Chinese mainland and Taiwan together make up a single country.

But Chen rejected the mainland’s demand that the “one China” formula be a prerequisite for any rapprochement between the two sides. Instead, Beijing and Taipei should meet as equals, without strings attached.

“China should not set other preconditions or principles,” he said. “Otherwise, it would be very difficult to enter into discussion on an equal basis.”

Chen proposed a peace agreement with Beijing--which considers Taiwan a breakaway region--as well as confidence-building measures for the two sides’ military forces.

But his offer will likely cut little ice in Beijing, where Chinese President Jiang Zemin reiterated Monday that Taiwan’s new leader must first accept the “one China” formulation before any meeting between the two rivals.

According to official media, Jiang told a visiting dignitary that “no matter who is in power in Taiwan, we welcome him to come to the mainland for talks. At the same time, we can go over to Taiwan. But dialogue or talks should be on the basis that he first of all recognize the one-China principle.”

They were Jiang’s first remarks on Taiwan since the island’s presidential election Saturday, which Chen, who belongs to Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party, won with 39% of the vote. Chen is distrusted by the Communist regime for his past declarations of support for independence for Taiwan.

In a clear departure from his party’s past advocacy of an independent Taiwan, Chen said he would not unilaterally declare independence unless Taiwan “faces a military attack or invasion from China.”

Meanwhile, loud and sometimes violent protests continued here for a second day Monday by hundreds of demonstrators demanding the immediate resignation of outgoing President Lee Teng-hui as chairman of the ruling Nationalist Party.

Many Nationalist supporters blame Lee for the party’s humiliating showing in Saturday’s poll. The protesters contend that Chen won because Lee split the Nationalist vote by ousting James Soong from the party, causing Soong to run as an independent. Soong finished a strong second.

Lee said Sunday that he will step down from the party chairmanship in September, a year before his term expires. But protesters, and even some lawmakers from his party, called for him to step down immediately.

Riot police beat back the crowds from storming party headquarters. A few injuries were reported.

The tumult in the streets caused Taiwan’s stock market to tumble by 2.6%, at times edging close to the 3.5% limit the government had set the day before.

In Beijing, news of the protests against Lee was carried by the official New China News Agency, which had up to then said little about the election results except for a terse response from the Communist regime that it would “wait and see” what Chen would do as Taiwan’s new leader.

The mainland government distrusts Lee, whom it accuses of being a closet separatist, even more than Chen.

The dangers of a soft line out of Beijing, which had issued hawkish warnings to Taiwanese voters not to choose Chen, were underscored by a report from an overseas dissidents group that 5,000 university students from the central city of Chongqing marched through city streets Sunday demanding a tough response to Chen’s election.

A high-ranking U.S. official urged China and Taiwan to restart talks that broke off last summer after Lee angered China by describing relations between them as being between two separate states.

“The statements Mr. Chen has made in the last 24 or 48 hours have been conciliatory; the statements from the Chinese side have been measured,” U.S. National Security Advisor Samuel R. “Sandy” Berger told reporters while on a visit with President Clinton to Dhaka, Bangladesh. “This is a time to now seize upon an opportunity that exists to resume a dialogue between Taipei and Beijing.”

Anthony Kuhn in The Times’ Beijing Bureau contributed to this report.

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About 40 people rallied in L.A., demanding resignation of the Nationalist Party leader. B3

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New Taiwan

Taiwan’s election brought to power a new leader and marked the end of an era. Opposition candidate Chen Shui-bian won a stunning victory, marking the first time the Nationalists will not control the presidency.

Eligible voters: 15.5 million

Turnout: 82.69%

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Chen Shui-bian (Democratic Progressive Party) : 39.3%

James Soong (Independent): 36.8%

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Lien Chan (Nationalist Party): 23.1%

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Others: 0.8%

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Source: Taiwanese government