Taiwan’s Chen Begins Second Term

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Chen Shui-bian began his second four-year presidential term today, using his inaugural address to offer a new beginning in the island’s long and troubled relations with mainland China.

Speaking at the end of a rain-dampened morning of inaugural festivities, Chen said that despite the divergence of the political systems over the decades, rapprochement was possible.

“If both sides are willing ... then [the two sides] can seek to establish relations in any form whatsoever,” he said. “We would not exclude any possibility so long as there is the consent of the 23 million people of Taiwan.”

Chen said that promoting closer cultural, economic and trade links across the Taiwan Strait was an important step to rebuild trust between the two adversaries. However, he also used his speech to warn Beijing that further attempts to isolate Taiwan in the world community would only widen the existing political divide.

Long-simmering tensions between the two have made the region a potential tinderbox for more than half a century.

Chen also sought to ease Beijing’s anxieties about his plans to reform Taiwan’s 58-year-old constitution, a document he said required a major overhaul to fit the needs of an island democracy rather than the continent-sized country of China for which it was originally intended. Beijing has vehemently opposed any such change, fearing it as a de facto step toward independence.

Chen repeated assertions that he had no intention of using the reform to initiate provocative steps such as changing Taiwan’s formal name, its flag or boundaries -- all moves strenuously opposed by Beijing, which considers the island a breakaway province of the mainland.

“Let me explicitly propose that these particular issues be excluded from the present constitutional re-engineering project,” he said. Chen’s avoidance of any reference to a “new constitution” was also viewed as an attempt to ease Beijing’s concerns.

Chen’s remarks came in the course of a 43-minute inaugural speech in which the island’s leader set out his agenda for the next four years. The content of the speech had been the subject of considerable speculation, mainly because of Chen’s unpredictable style of leadership, coupled with a tendency to probe the limits of Taiwan’s highly sensitive relationship with mainland China.

His words will probably be studied closely in both Washington and Beijing.

The conciliatory tone of Chen’s remarks was reminiscent of his first inaugural speech four years ago, in which he pledged not to take Taiwan on a path toward unilateral independence, even though his Democratic Progressive Party officially endorsed such a course. Although his words initially eased worries that his presidency would provoke greater tensions in relations with Beijing, his term was sprinkled with initiatives and comments that drew the wrath of mainland leaders.

Chen reaffirmed commitments made four years ago to renounce a series of steps that could be interpreted as moves toward independence. The commitments, referred to as the “five noes,” include pledges not to change the political status quo or to back a policy based on Taiwan and mainland China as two separate states.

With public opinion in Taiwan gradually cooling to the idea of an eventual unification with the mainland and Chen’s DPP gaining strength, some analysts have voiced concern that a constitutional reform process -- no matter how benign its intent -- could get hijacked by hard-line pro-independence forces.

Many of Chen’s first-term actions caught Washington off guard, causing consternation and frustration among senior Bush administration officials wanting to prevent cross-strait tensions from building into a full-blown crisis at a time when the United States’ military resources had been severely stretched in the post-9/11 era.

President Bush, who began his presidency with an unequivocal statement of support to do “whatever it takes” to defend Taiwan against mainland Chinese aggression, found himself standing next to Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao last December in Washington warning Chen not to attempt any unilateral change in the status quo in relations across the strait that has preserved a fragile peace in the region for decades.

The warning came after Chen surprised even many of his closest aides by suddenly announcing plans to conduct a national referendum on relations with the mainland -- a move that enraged Beijing.

The incident in many ways summed up Taiwan’s rocky, problem-prone relationship with the mainland since Chen came to office.

Such incidents unnerved Washington. Chen this week said one goal of his address would be to reassure the United States of his intention to improve the island’s relationship with Beijing.

A delegation headed by Rep. James A. Leach (R-Iowa) represented the United States at today’s ceremony.

Chen’s decision to conduct the national referendum also served to deepen the initial suspicion and mistrust with which Beijing viewed him as the island’s first president from a party that openly advocates Taiwanese independence.

Beijing, which views Taiwan as a breakaway province that must be reunited under its control, has refused to have any contact with Chen since he was first elected in March 2000.

A statement released by Beijing on Sunday setting out a seven-point plan for normalizing ties across the strait was prefaced by a vitriolic personal denunciation of Chen, accusing him of a variety of sins, including “unbridled instigation of hostility and animosity towards the mainland” and “frenzied provocation to the status quo.”

Chen’s inauguration followed his narrow election victory in March -- a victory that has been subject to a recount and is still contested by an alliance of opposition parties headed by the Nationalist Party.