U.S. and Taiwan (2006)

State Department Briefing, March 6

State Department acting spokesman Tom Casey briefed the press March 6.

Following is the transcript of the State Department briefing:

(begin transcript)

U.S. Department of State
Daily Press Briefing
Monday, March 6, 2006
12:45 p.m. EST

Tom Casey, Acting Spokesman

[ ...Intervening Text... ]

QUESTION: Taiwan's President Chen, in an interview last Friday, declined to say if the upcoming constitution reform would contain certain clauses that could change the status quo, including the official end of Taiwan. He said everything's possible. This is obviously not consistent with his previous assurances to the U.S. Are you going to do anything about that?

MR. CASEY: Well, I haven't seen those comments. I'd simply just reiterate what our long-standing position is and I would also refer you back to the statement that we made last week about some of the comments that had been made on the National Unification Council. Obviously we oppose any unilateral measures to change the status quo and believe that dialogue between Taiwanese officials and those in Beijing is the appropriate way to settle any Cross-Strait tensions.

QUESTION: On Taiwan?

MR. CASEY: Yeah, in the back. Okay, sure.

QUESTION: President Chen was saying basically, you know, in an interview with the Japanese newspaper, he was not ruling out, you know, possible change of the name of the country, Republic of China, and other sensitive issues, as long as the proceedings were in compliance with the constitutional procedure. Does the United States have any concern over this? I mean, this is -- the United States has been pushing President Chen to honor the "Five No" pledge on numerous occasions. Are you still sticking to those pledges that he has to honor?

MR. CASEY: Well, again, in terms of the assurances that President Chen has made, I'd refer you back to the statement we made on Thursday. While it was related to a slightly different issue, that that same policy applies. I mean, obviously we believe the maintenance of Taiwan's assurances is critical to preserving the status quo, and our firm policy is that there should be no unilateral changes to the status quo. And we've said that many times and I'd simply refer you back to that same statement again.

QUESTION: In that particular statement, you actually asked the Taiwan authorities to clarify its position. Has the position been publicly clarified to your satisfaction?

MR. CASEY: I don't have anything beyond what we've said. Again, I'll leave it up to the Taiwanese authorities to make any clarifications that are required, but I don't have any particular assessment to give you of any of the comments that have been made subsequent.

[ ...Intervening Text... ]

(The briefing was concluded at 1:22 p.m.)

(end transcript)