TAIPEI -- Chen Shui-bian clearly heard the warnings issued by Washington and, less subtly, by Beijing before his inauguration for a second term as the democratically elected president of Taiwan. Beijing warned that it would "crush their schemes thoroughly at any cost" if Taiwan's leaders continued their "dangerous lurch toward independence." Washington advised Chen to take Beijing's concerns seriously.

Message received! Chen's inauguration address last Thursday was filled with olive branches. It addressed all of Beijing's and Washington's major concerns. Despite opposition from his own Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the even more independence-prone Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU), headed by former president (and perennial thorn in Beijing's side) Lee Teng-hui, Chen agreed to "reaffirm the promises and principles set forth in my inaugural speech in 2000" -- in effect reassuring Beijing that he would not declare independence, change the national title, push for "state-to-state" terminology in the Constitution, promote an independence referendum, or abolish the now-dormant but still symbolic National Reunification Council or the Guidelines (the five no's).

Chen even said he understood why Beijing "cannot relinquish the insistence on the 'one china principle.' " While China's formulation -- that "there is only one China in the world and both the mainland and Taiwan belong to that one and same China" -- has been consistently rejected by all major political factions in Taiwan, Chen said both sides "can seek to establish relations in any form whatsoever." "We would not exclude any possibility," Chen asserted, "so long as there is consent of the 23 million people of Taiwan."