President Chen Shui-bian (???) has reiterated that Taiwan is an independent and sovereign country in an interview with Time magazine.
In an advance text of the interview to be published in the February 23 issue of the weekly, the president said what China fears the most is Taiwan's democracy, but "we must walk our own way, walk the right way."
Chen did not rule out the possibility of eventual unification with China, saying "who knows if these two separate countries might become one over time? We do not exclude any possibilities for the future." However, Taiwan would not allow it's status quo be changed unilaterally.
Below is the advance text of the interview to be published in the February 23 issue of Time:
http://www.etaiwannews.com/Taiwan/2004/02/16/1076896755.htm