Word: chen
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...Neither was George W. Bush. In a move that shook the island, Bush, during Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's first-ever visit to the White House in December, appeared to side with Beijing by publicly dressing down Chen, signaling that Taiwan's President should not move ahead with the referendum. "The comments and actions made by the leader of Taiwan indicate that he may be willing to make decisions unilaterally to change the status quo," said Bush-a position, he added, the U.S. "opposes." Then last month, the Bush Administration dropped the Washington-based chairwoman of the AIT, Therese Shaheen...
...fact, Washington knew it was coming. Chen's aides say the text of his address had been given to members of the Bush Administration days earlier. Most of the major points in the speech-no unilateral action to change the status quo with China; a clarification that any changes to the current constitution would not touch on sensitive areas such as the definition of national territory; and the notable omission of his often repeated phrase, condemned by Beijing, of "one country on either side of the Taiwan Strait"-were the result of intense negotiations between Washington and Taipei after Chen...
...Still, because of his brinkmanship, Chen has had a strained relationship with Washington. Bilateral ties hit a low last year, when Chen stunned the White House by declaring at a presidential campaign rally in Taiwan that he intended to use powers afforded him under a new referendum law to hold a popular vote to "protect our country's sovereignty." Many interpreted that to mean Chen was flirting with the idea of a referendum on independence-an action that China has consistently warned will lead to war. The next day, according to one U.S. source, a furious Colin Powell, U.S. Secretary...
...even China seems to be acknowledging that it has to start to deal with Chen, whose new term of office lasts until 2008. The Chinese Foreign Ministry described his speech as "a sham," and in a statement released by the mainland's Taiwan Affairs Office earlier in the week, Beijing warned that if Taiwan's leaders took any steps toward independence, it would "crush their schemes firmly and thoroughly at any cost." But although it made them contingent on Chen's accepting Beijing's "one China" policy, the same statement also put forward seven points seemingly designed to put cross...
...sense of a Taiwan identity on the island makes reunification less and less likely, and almost ensures that Taipei will run into more trouble not just with Beijing but Washington as well. "Right now, China's relationship with the U.S. is the best it's ever been," says the Chen official. "And it comes at a very unfortunate time for us because our democracy, and the people's aspirations, are rising." It's a situation, he adds, which has "everyone afraid we are on a collision course." For now, however, that collision has been averted...