There is a peaceful solution to the Taiwan question but it will
take time, former US ambassador to China J. Stapleton Roy said
yesterday.
"There is no reason for alarm (on the situation in Taiwan)
because there is no significant country that supports the
independence of Taiwan," Roy told China Daily on the
sidelines of a seminar on China's peaceful development and a
harmonious world.
Roy said he believed that the public in Taiwan was not in favor
of a crisis with the mainland.
Therefore, Taiwan leader Chen Shuibian did not have necessary
support to attempt any dangerous actions.
"We do not think that Chen should take actions that can increase
mistrust about how Taiwan will handle its relations across the
Straits," he said.
Roy reiterated that common interests between China and the US
required them to limit strategic mistrust through
collaboration.
"Our election periods often create some difficulties in China-US
ties, but as soon as the new US government takes office, it
discovers that it needs cooperation with China," he said.
The fear at the moment is there are some divergences over
economic issues in bilateral relationship, and it is possible that
the election process will make the problems more difficult to
manage, he said.
But the two countries have established a very good strategic
dialogue mechanism to address economic frictions between them.
Through the mechanism the two sides can look at a bigger picture
about their economic trade relations, he added.
(China Daily November 9, 2007)