A consummate defense lawyer like President Chen Shui-bian has a logic of his own.And he was at his very best in showing his skill of reasoning, that, however, doesn’t stand to reason.
Chen received Raymond Burghardt, chairman of the American Institute in Taiwan, at his office on Thursday and complained the United States might have “abandoned” President Ronald Reagan’s assurance that Washington would not “alter its position regarding sovereignty over Taiwan.
Why did President Chen arrive at the conclusion that Reagan’s word did not seem to be kept?
Here’s his reasoning:Taiwan, thanks to the grave concern from the United States, was able to stay in the Paris-based World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) as Chinese Taipei, but that international body reduced the status of Taiwan, a founding member, from a “sovereign country” to a “non-sovereign regional member, because Washington allowed that denigration.
President Reagan offered six assurances to Taipei right after his secretary of state Alexander Haig signed what is known as August 17 communique limiting American sales of arms to Taiwan in 1982.One of the assurances, according to Chen, is that the United States “had not altered its position regarding sovereignty over Taiwan” in promising Beijing it would reduce arms sales to the Republic of China under President Chiang Ching-kuo.
But President Chen declared the OIE action “has already contradicted the fifth of the six assurances.”
One thing we have to point out is that President does not seem to understand English.What President Reagan said is that Washington “had not altered” its position vis-à-vis Taiwan’s sovereignty when Haig made the promise in the August 17 communique.Reagan didn’t commit the United States to making no change in that position.In fact, a president may make such a promise for himself, but no president can do so for his successors.
Even if there had been such a commitment, the United States could not have done anything to alter the OIE decision to relegate Taiwan to a “non-sovereign regional member.”The United States has a veto power as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.It does not have it over the OIE.President Chen appears ignorant of this fact, and that’s why he criticized good old Uncle Sam for “not maintaining its stance and allowing the OIE to denigrate Taiwan’s status of participation.”
We strongly urge President Chen to go back to Taiwan University to sign up for English 101 and to Chengchi University to study something more about international relations.Of course, he may have the charter of the OIE downloaded and have it translated for him.But we are afraid there isn’t a good translator in the Office of the President to make that charter understandable to a man in the street.Incidentally, the president has to learn international etiquette.
（本文刊載於96.06.18 China Post第4版，本文代表作者個人意見）
