BILL Clinton, the former US president, arrived in Taiwan yesterday despite warnings from China that his visit could violate Washington’s diplomatic ties with Beijing.
Taiwanese media gave the visit extensive coverage, noting that during Clinton’s one-day visit he would be treated like a foreign head of state, short of a 21-gun salute.
He is visiting the region in order to promote his best-selling book, My Life
, and visiting areas in southern Asia ravaged by the tsunami. Many Taiwanese are fond of Mr Clinton, who visited this island four times as Arkansas state governor before he was elected US president in 1992.
The United States has no official diplomatic ties with Taiwan and abides by a "one-China" policy that recognises Beijing as China’s sole government.
China and Taiwan split in 1949, but Beijing considers the island to be Chinese territory. China’s leaders balk at any actions which appear to support Taiwan’s government, and have repeatedly threatened war if Taiwan moves toward formal independence.
Kong Quan, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, said last week that Mr Clinton, as former president, should be familiar with "China’s solemn position on the Taiwan question".
Hong Kong’s Oriental Daily News quoted Mr Clinton as saying that he will adhere to the one-China policy.
He was also quoted as saying he believed Taiwan and China can resolve their disputes by encouraging economic and other exchanges.
After arriving from Japan by private plane yesterday, Mr Clinton headed to an auditorium where he was scheduled to deliver a public speech. He was due to have dinner last night Chen Shui-bian, the Taiwanese president.
In an interview yesterday, Mr Clinton said his wife, Hillary, would be an excellent choice as the first female leader of the US.
Mr Clinton said he did not know whether his wife, currently senator of New York state, had any plans to run for the presidency, which has been held by 43 men but no women.
"I don’t know if she’ll run or not," he said, but added: "She would make an excellent president, and I would always try to help her."
Mrs Clinton has said she plans to run for re-election as New York senator in 2006. Speculation has periodically surfaced, however, that the 57-year-old former First Lady may have her sights set for the presidency in 2008.
Results from a US poll released last week showed that six in ten American voters believe the United States is ready for a female president. Fifty-three per cent thought Mrs Clinton should try for the job, according to the survey by the Siena College Research Institute.
On the Republican side, 42 per cent of voters believe Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, should run for the White House. Most voters expect the Democrats to nominate a woman to run for president in 2008 and Mrs Clinton has been widely tipped to take on the mantle.
Some 67 per cent of those polled said a female president would be better than a male on domestic issues, but only 24 per cent said a woman would do better on foreign policy issues.
A leading Democrat senator, Joseph Biden, who himself may run for his party’s nomination in 2008, said: "I think she’d be incredibly difficult to beat. I think she is the most difficult obstacle for anyone being the nominee.
"She is likely to be the nominee. She’d be the toughest person and I think Hillary Clinton is able to be elected president of the United States."
Mr Clinton said: "If she did run and she was able to win, she’d make a very, very good president. I think now she’s at least as good as I was."
The full article contains 668 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
