On Nov 9, the de facto US envoy to Taiwan, Stephen Young, reiterated U.S. official opposition to Ah Bian's determination to push ahead with a referendum on UN membership for the island under the name "Taiwan." The chief US diplomatic representative in Taiwan said a referendum was "not necessary" or "helpful" and called on Taiwan to adopt a "careful and moderate approach" in relations with China. He said: "I think it is clear to say neither President Chen nor anybody else here in Taiwan should be confused by the effective opposition to the referendum and the reasons."

It was reported that US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte had said in August that the U.S. opposed any such referendum because it would be a step to declaring full independence.

US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Thomas J. Christensen was also reported to have recently urged Ah Bian to "anticipate potential Chinese red lines and reactions and avoid unnecessary and unproductive provocations."

However, after all these apparent efforts by the U.S. regime to discourage Taiwan's hopeless application for UN membership, all the confusion and contradiction came not from Taiwan but from Washington itself. Hence it came as a big surprise and shock to many people that 19 US lawmakers, nearly all of them from President George W. Bush's Republican party, have introduced a bill in the House of Representatives backing UN membership for Taiwan.

It seems that the U.S. is suffering from Parkinson's Disease or some sorts of mental problems with the result that "the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing". It is time for the U.S. to conduct a self-restrospection of itself, otherwise it will lose the trust and confidence of other countries, even among its allies.

Since the U.S. established relations with China, there are many examples of "shaking hand with right hand and slapping with the left hand". For example, not long after the publication of a photo showing the late U.S. President Nixon and Mr Chou En Lai sitting together admiring the night scene like lovers when the former went to Beijing to establish U.S.-Sino relations, the U.S. Congress passed the Taiwan Act auhorizing the sale of arms to Taiwan. Hence a big question hangs on U.S. foreign policy, particularly with regard to China: "Does the U.S. conduct its foreign policy on irritants?"