In
a separate related development, Taiwanese Prime Minister Yu Shyi-kun
arrived in New York for two days in a wave of transit stops in the
United States by Taiwan officials en route to visits to Haiti, Panama,
Costa Rica and Belize, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Yu,
who is on his first overseas trip since he was sworn in as premier in
February, was also to make a transit in Los Angeles on his way back on
August 17.
Tsai
Ing-wen, chairwoman of the Mainland Affairs Council, was hurriedly
added to his delegation after China reacted furiously to Chen's
remarks Saturday that a referendum may be the only way to decide the
future of Taiwan, regarded by Beijing as a renegade province.
Taiwanese
officials in New York said that Yu would hold a number of "closed
door" meetings with business leaders and "possibly"
U.S. congressmen.
The
terms of transit stops through the United States by Taiwanese
officials dictate that no public events or meetings with U.S.
officials should take place.
However,
the Bush administration has been much more lenient with those
conditions than the previous White House of former President Bill
Clinton.
China
has in the past expressed outrage after members of the U.S. Congress,
which is a strong well of support for the island, visited senior
Taiwanese officials in their hotel suites.
It
was also angered earlier this year when Taiwanese defense officials
visited a defense industry summit in Florida, after Bush significantly
firmed U.S. support for Taiwan.
A
spokesman for the Taiwan Economic and Cultural Relations Office in
Washington, the island's de-facto Embassy, was unable to confirm if
Tsai would meet U.S. officials or even travel to Washington to clarify
Chen's remarks.
"We
meet with senior Taiwanese officials from time to time," a State
Department official said Tuesday, in the regular refrain used by U.S.
spokesmen when questioned about Taiwan policy.
The
United States said Monday in the wake of the new controversy, that its
China policy remained unchanged.
Washington
recognizes only "One China" but is nevertheless a strong
supporter of Taiwan, and the U.S. President is bound by law to offer
the island the means to defend itself.
The
issue of Taiwan is probably the most divisive topic in tense Sino-U.S.
relations, and Chinese officials visiting Washington frequently warn
the United States against intervening in an issue critical to Chinese
sovereignty.
Chen
sparked controversy on Saturday, August 3, in a video link with
pro-independence supporters in Tokyo by saying "Taiwan's future
and destiny can only be decided by the 23 million people living on the
island."
"But
how to make the decision when the time comes? The answer is what (we)
have sought after - referendum."
Chen
further provoked Beijing's by saying that Taiwan's statehood and
independent sovereignty, saying that "each side (of the Taiwan
Strait) is a country".
Chen's
comments marked an apparent turnaround from his usual policy of not
antagonizing the mainland and a return to his pre-Presidential
advocacy of an independent Taiwan.
China
reacted strongly Monday, August 5, to Chen's comments, saying Chen's
new path would lead his people towards "disaster."
Taiwan
ruled itself separately from the mainland since Nationalist troops
fled there at the end of China's civil war in 1949, but Beijing
considers the island an integral part of its territory.
It
said it could retake the island by force if it declares independence.
Last
month, a Pentagon study warned that China was rapidly modernizing its
military to give it the capacity to forcibly retake the island
