Max Baucus: “last night, I spoke by phone to Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian shortly after he arrived in New York on a so-called…”

“last night, I spoke by phone to Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian shortly after he arrived in New York on a so-called ``transit stop'' on his way to Latin America. I told him how pleased I was that he was able to make this visit and that I regretted that I could not travel to New York to meet with him personally because of the tax bill now on the Senate floor. I strongly opposed the restrictions placed on President Chen when he passed through Los Angeles last summer and was not permitted to meet with members of Congress. That is no way to treat the democratically elected President of Taiwan. We are in a different era than in the 1970s when Richard Nixon opened up China, the three Communiques were produced, and the Taiwan Relations Act was passed. On the one hand, we still honor the one China policy. The American message to Beijing and Taipei continues to be that they must negotiate together to resolve their differences by peaceful means. We are determined that neither side should be able to take unilateral steps that would fundamentally change the situation. But, on the other hand, we need to understand that Taiwan now has a government that is as accountable to its people as is our own government. Although Taiwan had an authoritarian system until the late 1980s, today it is an active democracy based on a market economy. With U.S. support, Taiwan made this transformation into a free market democracy.”