He is a master at double-dealing in cross-Straits interaction.

Under the cover of his feigned gestures of "goodwill" toward the mainland, he has taken great pains to prevent kindred people on the two sides of the Taiwan Straits from getting closer.

Chen did tone down his call for an independent Taiwan prior to and during his campaign for the "presidency."

But that was but a show for that very occasion.

Since then, he has assured us with both words and deeds over the past two years that he is the same old devout warrior for an independent Taiwan.

Claiming that Taiwan is "a country with independent sovereignty," Chen persistently challenges the internationally accepted legal reality that Taiwan is a part of China.

Chen has brazened it out in the face of censure inside and outside the island.

Chen's audacity in ignoring both history and reality is outrageous.

He has taken over from Lee Teng-hui as cheerleader of the de-Sinicization movement in Taiwan. He masterminded "localized education," cultivation of a "sense of national identity," and desertion of the island's long self-claimed identity as the "Republic of China."

He is behind attempts to change the names of the local currency units as well as the island's representative offices overseas, as well as attempts to bestow on a local dialect the status of a "national language" and moves to delete the word "China" from everywhere possible and to reduce coverage of China in school textbooks.

Receiving a French delegation on January 8, Chen said there should be "more economics and less politics, more contacts and less misunderstanding, and more trust and less suppression" between Taiwan and the mainland.

But he certainly did not tell his guests what was most clear in his heart: he is the one most stubbornly obstructing direct links in postal services, transport and commerce and all constructive efforts to cultivate an affinity between the two sides, or "more contacts and less misunderstanding" in his words.

In expounding his proposal for "political balance" between the two sides of the Straits, Chen said both sides should have no pre-set stance, they should shelve disputes, leave aside their differences, seek common ground and restore contacts and dialogue.

He even offered to send people to the mainland to "compare notes on the disputes over interpretation of the process and results of the 1992 talks."

But he never means what he says.

His idea of "comparing notes" has been crafted to nullify the 1992 consensus between the mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits and the Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation. The two sides agreed after extensive consultations in late 1992 that both sides should observe the "one China" principle although each may have its own interpretation.

By burying this essential common ground, Chen wants to keep alive only discord.

Despite the repeated failures of his independence-minded predecessor and mentor to creep into the United Nations, he is still tirelessly making the same futile efforts.

He has been beefing up the island's military preparedness. He has been courting foreign sponsorship. But his crusade is destined to fail.

Taiwan and the mainland have grown too close to be separated. The mainland is the top destination for Taiwan's exports and the main source of the island's trade surplus.

Taiwan has been a part of China since ancient times. Existing international laws acknowledge only one China, which is the People's Republic of China.

( May 6, 2002)