As US National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice has been nominated to succeed Secretary of State Colin Powell, attention in Taipei has focused on the extent to which the [Washington administration's] new Asian team would form and the impact it might have on the future cross-strait situation.
Some argue that Powell was simply a victim of the power struggle between the moderate and the so-called "neo-conservative" camp within the Bush administration. Nominating Rice to fill Powell's shoes represents an intensification of hawkish forces, as well as the notion of "unilateralism" in President George W. Bush's second term.
Others worry that Powell's resignation will worsen US-Taiwan relations because of the dissolution of his Asian team, which has long been considered to be friendly to Taiwan.
The fact is, any speculation on whether the rotation of people dealing in Asian affairs in the new Bush Cabinet will bring about a huge change of policy toward the region would be an exaggeration. From a global and regional strategic perspective, the second Bush team will stick with the old path and pursue an even tougher campaign against international terrorism. When it comes to its influence in Asia, the new team will put North Korea on top of its priorities.
For both policies, Washington will need Beijing to cooperate.
But where does Taiwan fit into such a transforming international landscape? The US stated quite clearly in its "Six Assurances" of 1982 that it would not be a mediator between Taiwan and China, and this policy has not changed. However, the role of the mediator could be indirect. Since the growing Taiwanese consciousness has met with China's closed-door policy, Washington has no choice but to play a more positive and constructive role in securing peace and stability across the Strait.
Therefore, initiating the resumption of cross-strait dialogue constitutes the most urgent task for Rice's new Asian team. Since President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) has suggested the establishment of a peace and stability framework, as well as a non-military buffer zone in the Taiwan Strait, the Bush administration should utilize every possible channel to encourage leaders from Beijing to go to the negotiation table. The meeting between Bush and Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) at the APEC summit this week is the most appropriate timing for Washington to ring the bell.
As far as Taipei-Washington relations are concerned, issues relating to Taiwan's holding of a referendum and the proposed enactment of a new constitution over the past 10 months has stirred up misunderstandings and tensions in the bilateral relationship.
Bush's explicit statement last December that "the US opposes any unilateral change to the status quo of the Taiwan Strait initiated by the Taiwan leader" was considered a huge setback for Chen. Avoiding a repeat of such a public statement at the Bush-Hu summit will require tremendous effort from the Chen administration. To win international support, Chen should elaborate on the significance of making the peace and stability framework a lot more predictable and manageable.
The international community should work together to monitor and facilitate cross-strait dialogue to reduce the possibility of surprises and miscalculations. By it nature, this framework echoes international anticipation of a constructive relationship of peace and stability between Taiwan and China.
Only through establishing frank, candid and institutionalized channels of communication between Taipei and Washington can the second Bush administration continue to uphold its commitment to the security of Taiwan.
Liu Kuan-teh is a Taipei-based political commentator.
US$18.278 billion is a simple dollar figure; one that’s illustrative of the first Trump administration’s defense commitment to Taiwan. But what does Donald Trump care for money? During President Trump’s first term, the US defense department approved gross sales of “defense articles and services” to Taiwan of over US$18 billion. In September, the US-Taiwan Business Council compared Trump’s figure to the other four presidential administrations since 1993: President Clinton approved a total of US$8.702 billion from 1993 through 2000. President George W. Bush approved US$15.614 billion in eight years. This total would have been significantly greater had Taiwan’s Kuomintang-controlled Legislative Yuan been cooperative. During
Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) in recent days was the focus of the media due to his role in arranging a Chinese “student” group to visit Taiwan. While his team defends the visit as friendly, civilized and apolitical, the general impression is that it was a political stunt orchestrated as part of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) propaganda, as its members were mainly young communists or university graduates who speak of a future of a unified country. While Ma lived in Taiwan almost his entire life — except during his early childhood in Hong Kong and student years in the US —
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers on Monday unilaterally passed a preliminary review of proposed amendments to the Public Officers Election and Recall Act (公職人員選罷法) in just one minute, while Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, government officials and the media were locked out. The hasty and discourteous move — the doors of the Internal Administration Committee chamber were locked and sealed with plastic wrap before the preliminary review meeting began — was a great setback for Taiwan’s democracy. Without any legislative discussion or public witnesses, KMT Legislator Hsu Hsin-ying (徐欣瑩), the committee’s convener, began the meeting at 9am and announced passage of the
In response to a failure to understand the “good intentions” behind the use of the term “motherland,” a professor from China’s Fudan University recklessly claimed that Taiwan used to be a colony, so all it needs is a “good beating.” Such logic is risible. The Central Plains people in China were once colonized by the Mongolians, the Manchus and other foreign peoples — does that mean they also deserve a “good beating?” According to the professor, having been ruled by the Cheng Dynasty — named after its founder, Ming-loyalist Cheng Cheng-kung (鄭成功, also known as Koxinga) — as the Kingdom of Tungning,
RSS