Former U.S. official Armitage visits Taiwan, plans to meet Chen

TAIPEI, March 8 Kyodo

Former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage arrived in Taipei on Wednesday, a week after independence-leaning President Chen Shui-bian's controversial decision to effectively terminate a symbolic council set up to promote unification with the mainland despite opposition from China and the United States.

Armitage, who wrapped a trip in Tokyo earlier in the day, told reporters at Taipei's airport he is visiting here as a private citizen and denied he is serving as a U.S. envoy as speculated by mass media.

''This is a private trip. I am not passing any messages to Taiwan for the U.S. government,'' Taiwan's semiofficial Central News Agency quoted him as saying.

Even so, Armitage said he is set to meet with the island's key political figures, including Chen, former President Lee Teng-hui, opposition Nationalist Party leader Ma Ying-jeou and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party's chairman Yu Shyi-kun.

Armitage was deputy secretary of state from March 2001 to February 2005.

Chen announced on Feb. 27 the ceasing of the function of the dormant, 15-year-old National Unification Council and application of its guidelines, triggering strong concern from Washington and fierce criticism from Beijing.

The move came ahead of the first anniversary of China's enactment of an anti-cessation law, which created a legal basis for the military to act against Taiwan should the island declare formal independence.

It was widely believed to have been made in an attempt to secure public support at a time when Chen's popularity has plunged to record lows.

Washington has urged Chen to unambiguously reaffirm he has no intention to alter the status quo across the Taiwan and to uphold his inaugural pledge in 2000 not to seek formal independence.

Taiwan and China split in 1949 amid a civil war. China has threatened military action should the self-governing island declare a permanent political split from the mainland.

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