其中，布希總統雖然說：美國的政策是基於三個聯合公報與台灣關係法的一個中國政策。因此，「我們反對台灣或中國任何旨在片面改變台灣現狀的決定。台灣領導人的言論或行動，顯示他可能有意要片面決定，去改變現狀，這是我們反對的」。這樣的談話被中國以及台灣的統派政客解釋為美國反對台獨與公投。

比方說，國民黨籍立委孫國華就認為，台灣領導人一而再、再而三衝撞美國政府兩岸政策底線，布希表達不耐，終於「講出重話」（詳見：http://news.yam.com/cna/politics/news/200312/200312100048.html）。

或許因為這個緣故，使得許多的媒體記者自然而然的會聯想到：「美國政府會否對台灣實施制裁？」，比方說，白宮發言人麥克雷蘭在被記者問到這個問題時即回答說，他「不納入，也不排除」，只不過，讓人頗感興趣的是：在12月9日美國國務院新聞簡報，發言人包潤時也被問及「在美國眼中，台灣是否是叛離中國的一省」，他卻直接了當的以「不」來回答。（詳見：http://www.ettoday.com/2003/12/10/319-1555362.htm）。

因此，如果比對上述美國政府的發言可以看出，如果說現在僅僅因為布希發表了上述談話就斷言美國在中國的壓力下明確的表示台獨、反對台灣舉辦公民投票，那根本是毫無根據的謊話！

一方面，布希總統上述的談話完全沒有提及「台灣公投」以及「台灣獨立」等等的字眼；再一方面，美國政府竟然都已經明確的表明了不認為「台灣是中國叛離的一省」了，那麼又何必因為中國的緣故反對台灣獨立呢？

是故，唯一造成爭議的部分就只剩下了什麼才是布希總統口中所反對的「片面改變現狀」？

許多人有個刻板的觀念認為：所謂的「片面改變現狀」指的是中國以武力併吞台灣，而台灣則片面宣佈獨立！美國既然反對這兩種狀況、希望維持「現狀」，那麼所謂的「現狀」指的當然就是目前「台灣不獨，中國不武」的狀況了！

然而，這樣的觀點其實很有問題！因為，如果從目前的事實來看，台灣在1999年李登輝前總統宣佈：「中華民國（台灣）與中華人民共和國是特殊的國與國關係」，以及陳總統在2002年宣佈：「台灣與中國，一邊一國」的表態後，事實上，台灣已經向國際展現出台目前是一個以「中華民國」為國號的獨立國家、不隸屬於包括中華人民共和國在內的任何外國！

那麼，退萬步而言，目前所謂的「現狀」自然指的是在台海兩岸形成了「中華民國（台灣）V.S.中華人民共和國」這樣的情況！而美國目前所能夠反對的，也就只剩下目前台灣是否要去掉「中華民國」這個國號，正名為「台灣共和國」這個結果了，至於「台灣獨立」根本已經不是問題了，因為台灣目前本來就是不斷的對外表示自己是一個獨立的主權國家！

而值得探討的一點是：

如果台灣故意去違反美國的期望，甚至於明目張膽的宣佈（狹義的）獨立、取消中華民國體制的話，那美國會有什麼樣的反應呢？

因為如果美國只是口頭上罵一罵的話，那所謂的「反對台灣片面改變現狀」根本只是空話一句！反之，如果美國要對台灣進行制裁的話，那又該以什麼樣的名義為之？採取什麼樣的行動呢？

要說台灣宣佈獨立、取消中華民國體制違反美國利益，那完全說不過去，因為目前的國際法本來就承認這是基本人權，美國無從反對！

要說台灣挑釁中國、破壞和平就更離譜，因為能夠破壞和平、要發動戰爭的是中國不是台灣，違反聯合國憲章非戰條款的是中國不是美國！

因此，光是在名義上美國就找不到一個適當的藉口！

而在具體的制裁措施方面，美國又能採取什麼行動呢？

說要全面不管台灣，讓台灣直接面對中國的軍事侵略，很抱歉，那違反「台灣關係法」，美國總統會被國會彈劾！

說要降低外交層級，但目前台灣與美國之間根本沒有正式的外交關係，根本也沒有可以再降的外交層級了。

至於說要以貿易制裁的方式迫台灣就範，那則是違反美國一直以來所揭櫫的自由貿易原則與WTO的協議！

因此，從上述的分析來看，美國這一次大概只是口頭上說說而已！

事實上，另一則受到台灣統派媒體刻意忽略的報導是，在這次的「布溫會」的訪談當中，布希曾向溫家寶強硬而直截了當地說：「我告訴你，你知道，如果你們逼迫我們，如果你們想要對台使用武力或威逼，我們一定奉陪到底」（Look, you know, if youforce us, if you try to use force or coercionagainst Taiwan, we are going to be there）（詳見：http://news.yam.com/cna/politics/news/200312/200312100218.html），反而是美國為了台灣在向中國施壓！

而另外一個在這次會談中受到矚目的美、中貿易問題，據美國貿易代表署官員在12月9日說，有關美國政府先前宣布對部分中國製纖維製品實施緊急限制進口措施，美國總統布希對中國總理溫家寶正式提議雙方協商這個問題後，這項措施即自動開始生效（詳見：http://yam.udn.com/yamnews/daily/1727262.shtml）。

就此來看，溫家寶這次美國行的兩個議題－－台灣問題，以及美中貿易問題，可以說都是一無所獲！是故，這一場被台灣統派政客與媒體扭曲渲染成中國如何取得外交勝利、聯美制台的美國行，事實上卻是中國一場失敗的總理外交！

但為何要反對呢？

打開來說，也就是知道台灣遇到了一位凶凶的歹人，
米國身為外人，本來是不關他的事，
但是因為牽扯到米國的利益，所以當然不希望起衝突，

如果美國認定台灣並非中國叛亂政府
換言之美國承認台灣是主權獨立的地位

那片面改變台灣現狀則是指<統一>吧
由台灣宣布跟中國統一
或是由中國宣布跟台灣統一(姑且稱之為統一實際是吞併)
所以美國反對的是統一
美國支持的現狀是<特殊的國與國關係>

在我的解讀來看，應該也是如此！

各位不要忘了，布希在之前還曾說過：「承認並歡迎台灣共和國．．．當然還有中國這兩個國家．．．」這樣的話。

也因此，早在之前美國政府就已經把台灣與中國看做是兩個不同的國家，這自然也就是所謂的「現狀」！

而從布希發表對台灣無關痛癢的談話來看，他對台灣所謂的「現狀」仍保留了相當大的解釋空間給台灣自己去發揮，因此，民進黨在昨日就由李應元代言說：台灣目前的現狀就是獨立！

當然，中國與台灣的統派也可以對此種說法嗤之以鼻、繼續說台灣是中國的一部分云云，但美國方面既然已經表示他們不認為台灣是中國叛離的一省（也就是等於說台不是中國的一部分），那中國與台灣統派的說法也就無關痛癢了！

在這樣的情況下，阿扁只要順水推舟說：辦公投就是為了維護「現狀」，堅持下去，中國越是說台灣舉辦公投是在搞台獨反而讓台灣的主權國家意志藉此彰顯出來！

是以溫家寶在這次美國行當中唯一成功的一點大概只有那十九響禮砲，讓他個人在中國政治圈第二把交椅的位置被確定而已！

還好啦，我倒是認為阿扁順勢操作，說公投就是為了維持現狀的說法反而能夠化解掉民眾對於被污名化、恐怖化的公投之疑慮。

THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you, Mr. Secretary. Im glad I caught you before you packed your bags. (Laughter.) This morning, I sent the Secretary on a very important mission, a mission of peace. And theres no doubt I sent a great man to go accomplish that mission. Im proud of your service to our country, Colin, and thank you for inviting us to this beautiful hall.

I want to thank you all for coming, as well. I appreciate so very much the opportunity to talk about the values and interests of America, and the fact that open trade is in our nations interest, and open trade helps us all adhere to values that we share -- common values. Values that call for respect of human rights and values that believe in the worth of each individual, and values that hold democracy and freedom dear.

I believe strongly in trade. I believe not only is trade in my nations interests, I think trade is in the interest of those nations who struggle with poverty, that desire a route out of poverty. As Colin mentioned, I was in Monterrey, Mexico recently, we were in Monterrey, Mexico.

I said there in Monterrey that this country of ours will provide aid, were pleased to do so and proud to do so. But direct aid is small in comparison to the benefits of trade. And that not only would we provide direct aid, but in return we expect our friends to adopt the habits that will encourage stability and peace and human rights. And theres nothing better to encourage those habits than trade.

And trade is important for American workers, too. Lost in the debate on trade here at home is the fact that many people are able to find better jobs as the result of an active trade policy in the United States.

And so were here to talk about a way to make sure that our nation trades and our nation works with other countries in the world to trade. In order for that to do so, the United States Senate must past trade promotion authority. I need that authority.

Every day we go by without the authority is another day we are missing opportunities to help our economy, to help our workers, to help our country, to relate to our friends around the world. If the Senate acts to give me trade promotion authority -- and I expect them to do so -- I will use it to expand commerce and work for higher-paying jobs for American workers.

And so today, I urge the Senate leadership to lead, to act, and to get this bill to my desk.

I want to thank Secretary Don Evans, whos the Secretary of Commerce, for being here. Hes my close friend. We spent a lot of quality time in Midland, Texas, together. Hes now representing the commercial interests of our country. And Im proud of the job he does. And I want to thank John Walters for being here, as well. John is in charge of making sure that the United States drug policy not only is clear, but works. And that drug policy says well work with our neighbors to interdict drugs. But in order for a drug policy to be effective, all of us in this country must make it clear to our young that drugs destroy their hopes and opportunities.

I want to thank members of the diplomatic corps who are here. Particularly, I want to thank the Prime Minister of Peru. Bienvenidos. Its nice to see you again, sir, and thank you for coming.

I have spent a lot of time with members of the ambassadorial corps. Im a better person for it. I see many friendly faces here. I want to thank you all for coming to support this initiative.

See, I hope -- I wish members of the United States Senate were here to see the members of the diplomatic corps who showed up for this. Theyre here because they understand the importance of trade. Theyre here because they understand the benefits of trade to their own people.

I also want to thank the U.S. exporters who are here, Americas business leaders and people who understand the benefits of opening up markets. I know that many of you have worked hard to help advance trade around the world, and for that were grateful. And weve done a lot last year, we really have. As Colin mentioned, we helped launch a new global -- a round of global trade negotiations in Doha. We helped bring China and Taiwan into the World Trade Organization. And thats good, thats important to recognize and to welcome both countries, both the Republic of Taiwan, and of course China, into the World Trade Organization. Its positive, its a positive development for our country.

Weve worked hard to have a free trade agreement with Jordan, and bilateral trade agreement with Vietnam. We reinvigorated trade negotiations of the free trade area of the Americas in Quebec City, as Colin pointed out. I thought those were very constructive discussions we had with your leaders. It was my chance to -- my first chance to meet them. And it was -- an interesting thing about that meeting, by the way, is that every country in our hemisphere was represented, except one. We welcomed every country into the meeting, that had democratically-elected leadership. One notable absence, I might add: Cuba, they dont democratically elect their leader.

And the first, most important thing we discussed, besides preserving democracy in our hemisphere, was trade -- how to encourage more free trade. And that was a positive development.

Were also in negotiations now with Chile and Singapore on free trade agreements, and so were now making good progress. But weve got to continue the momentum. I need the support of Congress on two urgent matters: trade promotion authority and the Andean trade preference act. Both are awaiting action in the Senate. Both sit waiting for the Senate to act. And both are essential to the economy of the United States.

The Trade Promotion Authority, sometimes members of Congress and I think people dont pay much attention to the issue, dont really understand how it works. The Trade Promotion Authority gives the executive branch the right to negotiate trade agreements. But Congress has the final authority to approve the agreements. Its not by granting me TPA that all of a sudden they dealt themselves out of the mix; quite the contrary. They passed it, they dealt themselves into the mix. They have a chance to ratify, up or down, a treaty.

But the good thing about TPA is it allows me to negotiate, or my administration negotiate, and then Congress gets to vote on the terms, up or down. And thats important for the nations represented in this world. It gives them confidence to negotiate a treaty with the United States without it being fine-tuned by numerous experts on the Hill, on what is right or wrong about trade.

Its important to have a platform for trade; and TPA provides that. Five presidents before me, Republicans and Democrats, have had this advantage in trade negotiations -- five of them. For two decades, trade promotion authority was a bipartisan commitment. It wasnt a political issue. It was a commitment, because it represented our national interest in expanding foreign markets. Those years saw many successes, and during the 90s, about one-quarter of our economic growth came as a result of exports. Our two major trade agreements, NAFTA and the Uruguay Round, have improved the average standard of living for Americans.

As importantly, NAFTA improved the average standard of living for Mexico and Canada. You see, the best policy for the United States is to hope our own neighborhood is prosperous. A prosperous and vibrant Mexico is good for the United States. You want your neighbors to do well. You want your neighborhood to be peaceful and prosperous, and NAFTA helped do that.

The other thing thats interesting about trade, is people think about trade and they think, well, trade is only good for big companies, only the multinational companies benefit from trade. I dont believe thats true. I know that since the role of governments to create an environment in which the entrepreneur can flourish and realize his or her dreams, that trade opens up opportunities for the entrepreneur. And heres one example.

Excel Holdings is a company based in Leesburg, Virginia. Weve got the owner here, which Im about to name him here pretty quick. And I can see his wife and two -- and son and daughter, I might add. Their job -- let me just say, last year, they signed a $35 million contract with a Mexican distributor. Excels product serves an important purpose, as it can produce up to 5,000 gallons of purified drinking water each day.

Today, Excel maintains distributors in 13 countries. The owner, a fellow who came to the United States from Egypt, Hisham Fawzi, hes with us. Hisham, thank you for coming. Heres a guy who had a dream, he wanted to build and own his own company. Thats an important part of the American experience, owning your own business, coming up with a good idea and working hard to see to it that the good idea works.

His idea, obviously, included markets around the world. In order for his business to succeed, he needed trade in more markets. There are thousands of entrepreneurs in America who benefit from trade. Trade is not just good for mega-corporate America. Trade is very good for farmers and ranchers and entrepreneurs, like our guest here today. I want to thank you for coming and thank you for working hard to realize the American Dream. And good luck in your business. (Applause.)

In eight years since the TPA, the trade promotion authority, expired, we have missed a lot of opportunity in America. And its cost -- and when you miss opportunity, it tends to affect the average worker in our country.

More than 150 regional free trade and customs agreements exist throughout the world; the European Union is party to 31 of them; Mexico is party to 10; the worlds largest economy is party to three. While weve been marking time, our competitors have been working, and theyve been signing agreements. While we have been delaying, theyve been trading.

Listen, I dont fault our trading partners for making progress. As a matter of fact, I would expect our trading partners to work hard to make progress. But what we need to do is to engage in competition ourselves. You see, when Americans -- when theres a level playing field, we can compete. Were good at it. Fearful people build walls around America. Confident people make sure there are no walls.

And I am confident. Im confident in America products, Im confident in American entrepreneurs, Im confident in the American worker, Im confident in the American know-how, Im confident in Americas farmers, Im confident in Americas ranchers. And we need to be a trading nation. (Applause.)

And Ill submit agreements to Congress, when I have this authority, that will be in our nations best interests. And well work hard to make sure we have good trade agreements that benefit both America and our trading partners. And if Congress doesnt like it, they can turn it down. But I need the authority. Its in our countrys interest that I have the authority.

And its also in our interest to bring confidence to countries around the world, to realize were serious about it when we speak -- countries in our own neighborhood. I mean, trade promotion authority will help us establish the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas. And thats going to be in our countrys interests, in our neighborhoods interests to do that as well.

The other thing thats important about trade for our country to understand is that people who trade with America benefit. Trade is just not a one-way street. It is a positive relationship. Its important for Americans to understand that by trade, we help people and we help poor people, and we help people get lifted out of poverty.

Listen, were a compassionate nation. There are a lot of people in our country who deeply care about Africa and countries in Africa, who deeply care about South America and Central America. These are countries that are fine countries, work hard, but theyre poor countries.

And if youre concerned about helping people help themselves, weve got to trade with the developing world. And the facts are fantastic. The trade with the African nations as a result of AGOA has been $1 billion worth of new commerce. Its the beginning of what we all hope is a prosperity, a boom in prosperity in parts of the world that have not been prosperous.

Oh, theres a lot of talk I hear about labor and environmental agreements. A prosperous nation is one more likely to take care of its workers. And a prosperous nation is one more likely, much more likely, to be able to afford the technology necessary to protect the environment.

And then, of course, trade creates the habits of freedom. If you welcome trade into your country, it creates the notion of freedom. It gives people, consumers, the opportunity to demand product, which is part of a free society. It creates an entrepreneurial class, which is a part of a free society.

And the habits of freedom begin to create the expectations of democracy and demands for better democratic institutions. Societies that open to commerce across their borders are more open to democracy within their borders. And for those of us who care about values and believe in values -- not just American values, but universal values that promote human dignity -- trade is a good way to do that.

Its a heck of a lot easier to promote human dignity and human rights through trade than it is through lectures. And its very important for us to always remember that a -- as I mentioned earlier, a prosperous neighborhood, a democratic neighborhood and a peaceful neighborhood is in our nations interests.

As a matter of fact, in all due respect to nations from around the world, the best foreign policy starts with making sure your own neighborhood is prosperous and safe and sound. And I -- as Colin mentioned, we have just come back -- or a while ago came back from a meeting with our friends in Central America and our friends in the Andean nations. And we had very constructive dialogue, but let me tell you what I heard.

I heard fine, democratically-elected leaders who are troubled by the fact that the United States Congress cannot yet respond to their simple desire to trade, their desire to expand and extend the Andean trade preference act.

It is important for these nations -- and all youve got to do is ask the Prime Minister or the ambassadors from the four countries with whom I met -- ask them the facts. Thats what I ask the Senate to do. What does the Andean trade preference act mean to nations that protect and defend democracy and, at the same time, fight off narco-traffickers? Trade in this instance not only is important for their economies, it is important for their security. It is important that these nations be given market access so they can develop products other than coca, that the workers in their countries are not prone to need to work in the narcotics industry.

If were serious about dealing with narcotics, not only will we work to reduce demand, as John Walters is going to do, but weve got to work in a constructive way, in a real way, with the Andean nations. And that means not only to work on interdiction, but it means helping these nations through trade, and develop substitute products -- products that can be substituted for the quick buck in narcotics.

I hope Congress understands that. I hope Congress understands that the Andean trade preference act is a crucial part of making sure that our hemisphere is democratic and free and stable and secure. The United States Senate needs to affirm Americas trade leadership, and bring both measures Ive talked about today -- the trade promotion authority, and the Andean trade preference act -- to the floor by April 22nd.

Now, Ive talked to enough members of the Senate, as have my staff, to know that theres enough Republicans and Democrats to pass both bills. And therefore the time of delay is over. On April 22nd Id like to see the debate, and get them passed. These bills are good for America, these bills are good for our friends. The time of delay must end.

And by approving these measures, and other measures such as the generalized system of preferences, and an enhanced African trade bill, we will stand squarely with our friends in the world, recognizing that when we work together and when we trade together, the whole world can be more prosperous. Weve got to seize the moment.

As you know, we fight off incredible terror. And we will. You dont have to worry about this administration. Were determined, and were going to win against terror. And weve also got to fight off poverty and despair and hopelessness. And one way to do that is to encourage trade.

I want to thank you all for giving me a chance to come and share my thoughts. May God bless not only America, but all the nations of the world. (Applause.)

END 1:39 P.M. EST