中國時報【陳洛薇、秦蕙媛／台北報導】
亞洲《華爾街日報》專訪馬英九總統，針對兩岸統一議題，馬英九說「未來是否會有如大陸期望的統一，端視未來數十年（decades）的發展」，不過該報導將「數十年（decades）誤植為「十年（decade）」，看似台灣已訂出統一時間表。馬英九昨日看到媒體報導大吃一驚，緊急對外澄清滅火。
總統府昨日上午公布馬總統接受專訪的錄音指出，馬當時所言是指「未來數十年（the next decades）情勢的發展」，而非《華爾街日報》所述的十年（decade），一字（s）之差，相差數十年，馬總統已指示新聞局寫信向《華爾街日報》要求澄清更正。
據轉述，馬英九昨日重申，政府的兩岸政策是「不統、不獨、不武」，就是維持現狀，台灣是個民主社會，所以台灣未來一定要交給二千三百萬人民來決定。
台盼維持一到兩個世代和平
馬英九並表示，如果是西方人看了訪問內容，不會覺得有什麼問題，但他元旦時會再強調、說明基本理念，因為這是最好方式。
總統府公共事務室代主任張國葆透露，馬總統早上看到報紙大吃一驚，指示總統府馬上調出錄音帶確認。馬總統訪談中也提到，台灣二千三百萬人民希望維持一到兩個世代的和平與繁榮，讓兩岸人民有充裕的時間和自由相互瞭解，互相體會並決定該怎麼做。
張國葆轉述，馬總統表示，中國大陸人民不太瞭解我們的三不政策，為何我們不想統一，很明顯地，統一的條件尚未成熟，因此他把這些視為歷史機會，要創造一種情勢，雙方都能看到哪一種制度較適合中華文化及中華民族，但這是一個北京未能認同的夢想，中國領導人要接納台灣民主經驗，還有一段很長的路。
馬的decades 被報成decade
馬英九用「next decades」來表達「未來數十年」，頗容易引起誤解。因為「next」是指「下一個」，通常接著單數名詞，因此《華爾街日報》會誤以為是「next decade」。像「decades」這樣不特定數量的複數，廿年、卅年、九十年都有可能，通常不會放在「next」之後。
Presidential Office clarifies Wall Street Journal article
Taiwan's media played up a misquoted comment by President Ma Ying-jeou in a Wall Street Journal Asia article on Monday. The quote said that the unification of China and Taiwan would depend on events over the next "decade". But the Presidential Office said Tuesday that the president actually said "decades" and produced a tape recording to prove it.
Presidential Office official Tsang Kuo-bao spoke on the media error.
"The president said that in the interview," said Tsang. "He said that whether there would be unification as China expects depends on the developments in the next decades. But today, major media and the Wall Street Journal printed 'decade'. We all know that there is a big difference between 'decade' and 'decades'."
But opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) official Wang Hsin-nan said that the president should have spoken up for Taiwan's sovereignty.
"When a national leader has the opportunity to speak to the world, when a national leader has the opportunity to tell China about our national sovereignty, we should not give the world and China the wrong idea, as if Taiwan wants to be unified with China," said Wang. "Of the 23 million people on Taiwan, 80% want to keep the status quo."
The status quo is that Taiwan has been ruling itself for the past 60 years, though China claims it is part of its territory.
In the Wall Street Journal interview, President Ma also said that China does not understand why Taiwan doesn't want unification. Ma said, "It's quite obvious that conditions for unification are not ripe. And we don't even know each other that well."
