TAIPEI: Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian has denied he asked
Hewlett-Packard chairwoman and CEO Carly Fiorina to serve as a
messenger to Beijing.
"The president has never asked and doesn't need to ask any
corporation or individual to serve as a messenger on his behalf,"
his office said in a brief statement.
It was widely reported here that Chen suggested Fiorina convey
Taiwan's wish to start immediate negotiations with China on direct
charter passenger and cargo flights during a meeting on
Friday.
"It is a very serious issue for both sides across the (Taiwan)
Strait and it also concerns mutual international interests," Chen
said in a statement released Friday.
Chen urged Fiorina to "express to Beijing and lobby for the support
of the United States in accordance with this principle."
Local reports said Fiorina told the president she was not suitable
for such a role and her company issued a statement late Friday to
reaffirm her stance.
"The purpose of her (Fiorina's) visit in Taiwan is to meet with our
customers and she believes that businesses should stick to business
and leave politics to politicians," the statement said.
Taiwan has stepped up its efforts to push for cross-strait charter
air services after Chen called for wide-ranging peace talks with
China in his National Day speech last week to ease rising tensions
between the two rivals.
His proposals were met by a sharp rebuke from Beijing, which warned
the Taiwan leader against risking "great catastrophe" by pushing
for independence.
Air and sea exchanges between Taiwan and China are routed through
Hong Kong, Macau or other ports under a ban imposed more than five
decades ago when the two sides split in 1949 after a civil
war.
Limited direct exchanges, known as the "mini-links," were opened in
2002 between Xiamen and other selected ports in China's
southeastern Fujian province and Taiwan's offshore Kinmen and Matsu
islands amid expanding civilian ties.