Taiwan Leader Says U.S. Stops No Big Deal

China has no reason to get upset over his planned stopovers in the United States next week and should drop the uncooperative attitude that has prevented Taiwan and the mainland from sitting down at the negotiating table, President Chen Shui-bian said Tuesday.

In an interview on the eve of his first anniversary in office, Chen expressed a desire to travel to Shanghai for a meeting of heads of state at the regional economic Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in October--a request Beijing will almost certainly deny.

Chen also welcomed President Bush’s recent decision to offer an arms package to Taiwan to counter a military buildup by China, which regards the island as lost territory to be recaptured--by force if necessary.

“We’re not buying weapons,” the Taiwanese leader said emphatically. “We’re buying security.”

Chen is likely to press that point and try to raise Taiwan’s international profile during a three-day stopover that begins Monday in New York. There, and during an overnight stay in Houston on the way back from a diplomatic tour of Latin America, Chen is expected to meet unofficially with members of Congress and do some sightseeing.

The stopovers, on transit visas issued by the State Department to Chen as a private citizen, are sure to rile the Beijing regime, which objects to any perceived favors to Taiwanese presidents, past or present.

Chen dismissed such ire as misplaced.

“Our activities will be very low-key and not in the public eye,” he said. “I also don’t think that my being invited by American congressmen to eat some Texan steak should make China unhappy, nor should it elicit a military reaction.”

He insisted that the stops are being made primarily for “comfort and convenience,” especially for his disabled wife. But he also left no doubt about the political side to his visit.

“Many friends in the U.S. are concerned about Taiwan and . . . wanted to take the opportunity to meet with me again to further exchange views,” said the leader of one of Asia’s youngest and most vibrant democracies.

Chen’s agenda stands in stark contrast to a similar stopover in Los Angeles nine months and one U.S. president ago. Then, the Clinton administration tried to block Chen from conducting meetings on U.S. soil, even in an unofficial capacity. In 1995, a visit by Chen’s predecessor, Lee Teng-hui, triggered a backlash by Beijing that eventually culminated in Chinese military maneuvers near the island.

Today Sino-American relations are at a two-year low, while Taiwan’s political star has risen. Bush’s offer of sophisticated weaponry and his pledge to do “whatever it took” to defend the island in case of an attack are a seeming departure from past U.S. policy.

Chen cautioned Tuesday that Bush’s remarks “must not be overly interpreted” and that Taipei ought to do more to ensure its own security against its behemoth neighbor across the Taiwan Strait.

He also said the proposed U.S. arms sales, including naval destroyers and aircraft, are in line with Taiwan’s needs and that the weapons, as well as a proposed U.S. missile defense shield that could include Taiwan, would not fuel a regional arms race, as Beijing charges.

“Without China’s continued actual or verbal threats against Taiwan and their refusal to abandon the use of force, without ongoing Chinese missile deployment in the southeastern coastal region and their attempts to delay dialogue,” he said, “then Taiwan would not be compelled to buy weapons to defend ourselves.”

Chen’s comments came during a wide-ranging, hourlong interview with a small group of journalists at the imposing red-brick presidential palace in Taipei, in a room that was once part of Gen. Chiang Kai-shek’s office.

An erstwhile champion of Taiwanese independence, Chen, 50, shocked the world last year when he won the island’s top job and kicked the ruling Nationalists out of the presidential mansion for the first time.

As a candidate and as president, Chen has moderated his stance on independence and made some overtures to the mainland. Those efforts have been rebuffed because of his refusal to accept Beijing’s “one China” principle, which holds that the mainland and Taiwan together make up one country.

Although China has softened its line slightly on the one-China principle, Chen blamed Beijing for the impasse between the two sides.

“If there were really mutual sincerity, then there would not be preconditions attached to the talks” by Beijing, Chen said.

Any future political integration would have to receive the approval of the island’s 23 million people, take place between China and Taiwan as equals, and be a peacefully agreed-upon outcome, he added.

Yet even as the rivals remain politically estranged, economic ties are growing. Already, the mainland has attracted $40 billion in Taiwanese investment.

With Taiwan’s economy battered by a global downturn, Chen’s administration is under pressure to lift restrictions on investing in the mainland, where labor is cheap and plentiful. But Chen said national security must be maintained, meaning that Taiwan’s economy cannot afford to be too reliant on China.

Taiwan parliamentary elections are due in December, and though Chen’s Democratic Progressive Party hopes to pick up more seats, it is not fielding enough candidates to win a majority.

Chen appealed to his fellow citizens and like-minded politicians for support in putting together an effective government. After all, he still has three years left to serve as president.

“This fact cannot be changed,” Chen said, smiling.