Walking In The Footsteps of His Mentor

More than just being able to discern the benign intentions in the words and deeds of former Taiwanese leader Lee Teng-hui, Richard C. Bush was also able to discern likewise in similar deeds of current Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian.

Speaking to an audience of overseas Taiwanese supporters in August 2002, Chen created doubts among many when he noted that "Taiwan is our country, and our country cannot be bullied, downgraded, marginalized, nor treated as a local government. Taiwan is not a part of any other country, nor is it a local government or province of another country. Taiwan can never be another Hong Kong or Macau because Taiwan has always been a sovereign state. In short, Taiwan and China are standing on opposite sides of the strait, there is one country on each side (yibian yiguo - 一边一国). This should be clear."

Even as Bush acknowledged that Chen's words evoked memories of Lee Teng-hui's special state-to-state formulation, he argued that Chen's rejection of subordination to another authority and his specific focus on Hong Kong and Macau as the negative point of reference "were not inconsistent with Taiwan's past position."

Bush added: "To say that China and Taiwan were each countries were no doubt offensive to Beijing, but it did not in and of itself rule out certain kinds of national union, although it did rule out the one-country, two-systems arrangement."

But at least Bush concurred that the damage was done, and that Chen's comments had dashed the hopes of those in China who may have held a slender hope that he would not test Beijing's tolerance. Chen's statement also reconfirmed the beliefs of those who thought he could not be trusted.