Chen signs the death certificate for council
Should unification body be frozen or terminated? That's the question American and Taiwanese negotiators haggled over, analyst say
Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian yesterday signed documents to officially wind-up the 16-year-old council that advised on unification with the mainland, following weeks of under-the-table political manoeuvres with the US.
Reactions from the US, which was caught off guard by Mr Chen's proposal in January to scrap the National Unification Council, were unexpectedly mild. Officials and analysts said this was due to a compromise between the two sides.
On Monday, instead of using the word 'abolish' to announce the closure of the symbolically important body, Mr Chen used the phrase 'cease functioning' in an attempt to play down the impact.
'The National Unification Council will cease functioning and the budget no longer be appropriated,' Mr Chen declared, adding the 'the National Unification Guidelines will also cease to apply'.
In remarks aimed at the US, Mr Chen also stressed Taiwan had no intention of changing the status quo and firmly opposed any use of violence that would lead to a change of the status quo.
Taiwanese media said Washington chief's concern was whether Mr Chen would keep his pledge not to change the status quo.
During negotiations since late January, Taiwan has repeatedly told its main ally and arms supplier that it will not step beyond this red line.
The reports said Washington accepted Mr Chen's argument that the move would not change the status quo, and it respected the wishes of Taiwanese, who should be free to decide their future.
The reports said the two sides discussed the wording to be used and came up with six terms before agreeing on the use of 'cease to function'.
Washington was reported to have preferred the much softer wording 'freeze', 'suspend', and 'discontinue', while Taipei preferred 'abolish', 'terminate' and 'nullify'.
The government-funded Central News Agency said Taiwan's de facto ambassador to Washington finally suggested the wording 'cease to function', which was accepted by the United States.
'Rather than saying 'cease to exist', the president chose the wording 'cease to function', which is milder than 'abolishing' and is acceptable to the US,' said Chen Yu-chun, professor of American Studies Institute of Chinese Culture University.
But in Chinese, the term could mean termination, he said, adding this allowed the president to convince the pro-independence camp that he was indeed scrapping the council.
Liao Ta-chi, director of the National Sun Yat-sen University's Political Science Institute, said although the term 'cease to function' was a compromise between the US and Taiwan, 'the larger question now will be whether the US will continue to trust Chen after all the dust-ups over the council issue'.
