An Anachronist’s Life

Excerpt from Daily Press Briefing of U.S. Department of State, by Tom Casey, Deputy Spokesman on September 25, 2006

QUESTION: Thank-you, Tom. Taiwan’s leader Chen Shui-bian vowed yesterday to dramatically amend the constitution to reflect what he says the changes in Taiwan’s status — the proposed amendments making sure the definition of Taiwan’s territory and official name. I’m just wondering is the U.S. concerned by Chen’s move to unilaterally change the status quo.

MR. CASEY: Well, first of all, let me just reiterate that the United States does not support independence for Taiwan and we continue to be opposed to unilateral changes in the status quo by either side. We also take very seriously President Chen’s repeated commitments not to permit the constitutional reform process to touch on sovereignty issues, which includes territorial definition. And the fulfillment of President Chen’s commitments is a test of his leadership as well as his ability to protect Taiwan’s interests, its relations with others and to maintain peace and stability in the Straits.

So I think that’s basically where we are on this issue. We again know about his commitments that he’s repeatedly stated on this subject and we expect he would carry out them.