Taiwanese American Organizations
urge President George W. Bush to support the March 20 referendum in Taiwan

Jan. 19, 2004

For Immediate Release
Date: January 19, 2004
RE:Taiwanese American Organizations Launch Letters-to-Bush Campaign
Contact: Professor Jeff Tsay, (817) 275-6217, jtsay3@comcast.net

On January 16, 2004, six major Taiwanese American organizations jointly issued a statement launching the Letters-to-Bush campaign. “The purpose of this letter is to urge President George W. Bush to support the March 20 referendum in Taiwan and build up a robust deterrence posture in the Western Pacific,” the statement declares. These organizations plan to collect 10,000 signatures within a month and deliver the collected letters to the White House.

The statement is accompanied with a sample letter to President Bush, which suggests that the contemplated referendum reflects the desire of the Taiwanese people. The letter points out that the abandonment of the referendum can weaken the support for President Chen Sui-Bian in the upcoming election. And if the pro-China KMT-PFP pan blue alliance wins the presidential seat, Taiwan will most likely be annexed by China within a couple of years. Such an outcome will be contrary to the status quo that the U. S. has been seeking to maintain and will cause further turmoil in the Western Pacific region. It definitely will not be in the best interest of the United States.

The statement calls on all Taiwanese-American organizations to join this campaign and to mobilize their memberships to collect signed letters. “Collecting so many letters in a period as short as one month is a challenge and will take all Taiwanese Americans’ intensive effort,” says Professor Yang, chairman of the World United Formosans for Independence-United States Headquarters (WUFI-U.S.). In May of 2001, these major Taiwanese organizations launched a letter campaign to urge the Taiwanese government to change the name of its de facto embassy in Washington D.C. from “Taipei Economic and Culture Representative Office” to “Taiwan Representative Office.” They successfully collected 10,000 signatures by November 2001.

Appendix A

Letter-to-President Bush Campaign
Joint Statement
January 16, 2004

The Formosan Association for Human Rights, Formosan Association for Public Affairs, North America Taiwanese Professors' Association, North America Taiwanese Women's Association, Taiwanese Association of America and World United Formosans for Independence-U.S.A. hereby jointly launch the Letter-to-President Bush Campaign.

The purpose of this letter is to urge President George W. Bush to support the March 20 referendum in Taiwan and build up a robust deterrence posture in the Western Pacific. Our goal is 10,000 signed letters in a month’s time. We plan to form a delegation of Taiwanese-American organizations to deliver these letters to the White House.

We call on all Taiwanese-American organizations to join this campaign and to mobilize their memberships for collecting signed letters. Please send all completed letters to:

Philip Wu, President
Taiwanese Association of America
Box 209, 9110-B Alcosta Blvd.
San Ramon, CA 94583

Patrick Tsay, President
Formosan Association for Human Rights

Ming-Chi Wu, President
Formosan Association for Public Affairs

Milton Chen, President
North America Taiwanese Professors' Association

Nora Tsay, President
North America Taiwanese Women's Association

Philip Wu, President
Taiwanese Association of America

Bob I. Yang, Chairman
World United Formosans for Independence-U.S.A.

Appendix B

January 16, 2004

President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, D.C., 20500

Dear President Bush:

There are more than 600,000 American citizens of Taiwanese heritage in the United States. In 2000 a great majority of Taiwanese Americans voted for you mainly on account of your support for Taiwan’s democracy. We appreciate your clear affirmation last month of the US commitment to help defend Taiwan should China decide to use force or coercion to alter the status quo.

We are deeply concerned about our government’s objection to Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian’s proposed referendum on March 20, 2004. The referendum will not touch the independence-annexation issue, but is designed to alert the complacent Taiwanese people to China’s military threat. While the content of the referendum can be discussed between Washington and Taipei, it would be self-defeating for the US to pressure President Chen to abandon the referendum. President Chen’s disappointed supporters could abstain from voting en masse to protest his betrayal of democracy. The electoral victory of the KMT-PFP pan blue alliance will most likely result in Taiwan’s capitulation to China within a couple of years. This will terminate our role as the guarantor of peace in East Asia and usher in seminal turmoil in the region.

Mr. President, we urge you to reaffirm our policy that the status of Taiwan must be settled peacefully and with the assent of the Taiwanese people. We urge you to bolster our naval and air presence in the Western Pacific in accordance with the Taiwan Relations Act and the recommendations of the DOD’s Quadrennial Strategic Review so as to deter Chinese military action against Taiwan.

We realize that our armed forces are now heavily committed in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere in our effort to make the world safer for freedom. But if we fail to prevent Chinese military adventure, the costs to our country will be immensely larger. What is at stake is not just peace in East Asia and the freedom of the twenty-three million Taiwanese, but also whether the People’s Republic of China can become a peaceful member of the civilized global community or turn into an expansionist power intent on becoming the hegemon of Asia and beyond.

We look forward to your response.

Respectfully yours,

Signature: _____________________________ Name (Print): ___________________________

Address: ______________________________________________________________________

Telephone: ____________________________________________________________________