China blasts U.S. for allowing Chen to visit

Asian Political News, May 21, 2001

BEIJING, May 15 Kyodo

China on Tuesday slammed the United States for deciding to allow Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian to make stopovers en route to and from Central America later this month.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi told reporters that China has expressed through diplomatic channels ''strong resentment with and opposition to'' the U.S. government for permitting the stopovers.

Sun said China hopes the U.S. will act in accordance with the principles enshrined in relevant bilateral documents, and will not interfere in China's internal affairs regarding the Taiwan issue.

China considers Taiwan to be a renegade province.

Chen is scheduled to arrive in New York next Monday for a two-night stay before heading to five Central American countries -- El Salvador, Guatemala, Panama, Paraguay and Honduras -- all of which maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan.

On his return trip, he will stay over in Houston on June 2 and leave the U.S. the following day.

In a departure from previous U.S. policy, U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told a news briefing Monday that Washington has decided not only to issue a transit visa for Chen but to allow him to meet with U.S. lawmakers while in the country.

If the meeting takes place, it will be the first between a Taiwan leader and U.S. lawmakers on U.S. soil since Washington severed diplomatic ties with Taipei in 1979.

In the past, the U.S. government had asked Taiwan not to seek contact between its leader and U.S. lawmakers while in the U.S. in transit to third countries. Chen was barred from meeting U.S. Congress members and overseas Taiwanese leaders during a stopover in Los Angeles last year.

The new U.S. policy has infuriated Beijing at a time when bilateral ties are already strained over the April 1 collision between a U.S. reconnaissance plane and a Chinese fighter, and last month's U.S. decision on selling sophisticated arms to Taiwan.

China has strongly objected to transits by the Taiwan leader, claiming they amount to recognition of Taiwan.

Beijing suspended official dialogue with Taipei after Chen came to power in May 2000, charging that he and his Democratic Progressive Party do not respect the principle that there is only one China and that Taiwan is an integral part of it.

It has threatened to invade Taiwan if the island declares independence.