CROSS-STRAIT TIES: The president said Beijing's `one China' principle was a political myth that it was using to consolidate its power within a `dictatorial empire'
By Lin Chieh-yu
STAFF REPORTER
Wednesday, Apr 21, 2004,Page 1
President Chen Shui-bian takes out from his wallet a note with his ancestral home address on it during a meeting with Ross Terrill, the author of The New Chinese Empire: And What It Means for the United States. At the press conference in the Presidential Office yesterday, Chen stressed that he always bears his origin in mind.
PHOTO: CNA
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday compared the Chinese Communist Party's rule to those of ancient Chinese imperial dynasties, saying that the "dictatorial empire" developed by Beijing would collapse sooner or later.
"The `one China' policy is actually a political myth to be used for consolidating the new `Chinese Empire,'" Chen said when he met Ross Terrill, author of The New Chinese Empire and head researcher at Harvard University's Fairbank Center for East Asian Research.