DPP presidential candidate Chen Shui-bian claims that Lee Teng-hui's "state-to-state" policy echoes comments that Chen himself made in Washington in April, when he asserted, "Taiwan and China are two ethnic Chinese nations that do not belong to each other; the two countries should develop a special international relationship."
民進黨的總統候選人陳水扁更聲稱，李總統的「兩國論」是呼應他四月在華府所提出「台灣與中國是兩個互不隸屬的華人國家，兩國應發展國際的特殊關係」的主張。