Editorial

EditorialChen's undiplomatic act

2005/7/27

Last week, President Chen Shui-bian surprised everybody by publicly urging South Korean President Roh Moo Hyuan to facilitate his participation in the November summit of APEC leaders in Busan, saying it was "an ideal occasion for the leaders on both sides of the Taiwan Strait to sit down and talk."

Seoul and Washington immediately rejected the idea. Chen made the undiplomatic move while receiving President Roh's special emissary who came to deliver an invitation for the leader of "Chinese Taipei" to attend the Bushan meeting.

The Chinese Taipei's leader is expected to excuse himself and dispatch a representative from the economic sector to attend the meeting on his behalf. Taiwan is the only member whose president is not allowed to join the group due to Beijing's insistence. It's unfair but it was the condition for Taiwan's admission in the regional economic forum in the first place.

Since April, leaders of Taiwan's three opposition parties have made historic trips to Beijing for talks with Hu Jintao. Their activities on the mainland were highly praised at home and abroad; while the president's approval rating plunged to an all-time low, under 30 percent. Chen has repeatedly called Hu for a meeting, but Hu wants him to honor the "one China" principle first and rejects not meeting on Chinese soil.