Despite claiming he did not want to criticise any of the European Union Governments and leaders for leaning toward the lifting of the EU’s 15-year old embargo on arms sales to China, Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian March 1 repeatedly lashed out at the proposed decision, its leadership and its perceived impact.

The videoconference was also addressed by several supportive Members of the European Parliament, such as Liberal leader Graham Watson, German Christian Democrat Georg Jarzembowski, British Conservative Charles Tannock, and other Members who did not speak.

Yet in the same 1½ hour conference from Taipei, he also expressed his inability to follow through on many of his previous intentions to assert Taiwan’s separation from Mainland China in the aftermath of the December Parliamentary election that left the opposition Kuomintang Party in a majority in the island parliament. He noted that this would make impossible his earlier proposals for a new constitution, a name change for the island, a decisive referendum and other symbols of a separate identity. “If I can’t do it, I can’t do it,” he exclaimed.

He also seemed open to further improvement in relations and contacts with China, repeating that he hoped the Lunar New Year direct charter flights between the two, the first in 55 years, could be followed by other direct flights, dialogue and communications. Beijing called for a regular commercial service to be established and later Taiwan's head of mainland affairs, Joseph Wu, called for an interim peace agreement with China that would last 20 to 30 years, during which the island would not secede But Chen noted “dark clouds” in these relations as a result, he said, of Beijing’s consideration of an anti-secession law, which he called an attempt to unilaterally change the status quo and which others have suggested could be used as a legal basis for attacking Taiwan. And several times he alleged China had 706 missiles directed at Taiwan.

A few days earlier he and opposition leader James Soong had agreed on a 10-point plan of collaboration and agreement on a number of such key issues. The move was seen as having a potential of reducing tension between Taiwan and Beijing over the island’s status. They were followed by the resignation of three top Chen aides and supporters who attacked him for backtracking from his earlier separatist approach, but he said that in his remaining three years in office he would have to “balance” and “reconcile” different interests in Taiwan as well as with China on such issues.

But at the same time reports emerged of statements by Soong stating that he had been told in strong terms by American officials during a long visit to the US that America would not come to the aid of Taiwan in case its movement for independence led to a clash with China.

Chen’s tirades against the possible EU action also came in the wake of a declaration the previous weekend by US and Japan that the situation in the Taiwan Straits was a “joint strategic objective” that included a priority for a peaceful solution, a statement condemned by Beijing.

Despite his strong attacks on the EU and its leadership over the arms embargo and human rights, Chen expressed satisfaction with significant increases in total trade between Taiwan and the EU which reached 38.9 billion in 2004, an increase of 18.6% over the 2000 figure and a rise of 14.2% in shipments to the EU and a rise of 25.1% in EU exports to Taiwan. He said the EU was the fourth leading trade partner for Taiwan after China, the US and Japan and was expected to rise to an even higher ranking in the future.