As Taiwan Premier Chang Chun-hsiung issued an overture to Beijing while making his first remarks in the Legislative Yuan since being appointed, aides to President Chen Shui-bian felt obliged to clarify a foreign news report that cited him as saying he was proud to be Chinese.
Mr Chang worked on bolstering cross-strait relations by saying in the legislature: 'The moment for reconciliation has arrived. Both sides of the strait need to abandon criticism in favour of conducting rational dialogue.'
Meanwhile, the Presidential Office issued a statement saying there had been a translation error in remarks published in Germany's Der Spiegel magazine, which were included in an exclusive interview Mr Chen granted last week.
A brief transcript of Mr Chen's remarks was released, but it appeared that the nuances of the Chinese language were more to blame than poor translation.
Mr Chen said 'we are honoured and proud' to be Chinese, but he used the more loose term hua ren instead of the more specific zhong guo ren. In Chinese parlance, hua is a loose reference to the Chinese nation and race. Both Taiwan and mainland China use the word as part of their national titles, referring to China as Zhonghua. In contrast, the term zhong guo, translated by some as 'the middle kingdom', is generally accepted as a reference to the People's Republic.
By issuing the statement, the Presidential Office tried to draw a difference between being an ethnic Chinese and a citizen of the People's Republic.