US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in Tokyo Saturday that Washington will continue to stick to its obligation under the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA).
She also said that the US will maintain its "one China" policy and oppose any unilateral change to the status quo by either side of the Taiwan Strait.
Rice, who was visiting Japan, made the comments in an address at Sophia University in Tokyo. The full text of her speech was released by the State Department the same day.
Pointing out that the US has reason to welcome the rise of China as a confident, peaceful and prosperous country, Rice said that Washington also wants China as "a global partner, able and willing to match its growing capabilities to its international responsibilities."
However, she admitted that some issues, particularly Taiwan, have complicated relations between China and the US.
"Our `one China' policy is clear and unchanged. We oppose unilateral changes to the status quo, whether by word or deed by either party," Rice said.
Saying that Taipei and Beijing must realize that neither side can solve the problem alone and should continue to expand recent steps toward a more productive relationship, Rice reiterated that "in the interest of peace and stability we stand by our obligations under the TRA."
She also said that the US can assure basic security as well as reach out to achieve other goals in the Pacific community because it knows economic and political openness works.
"The ultimate direction of contemporary trends is clear. Openness is the vanguard of success. Time and again we have seen that economic and political openness cannot long be separated. Even China must eventually embrace some form of open, genuinely representative government if it is to reap the benefits and meet the challenges of a globalizing world," she said.
Meanwhile, taking unilateral measures that can only escalate tension is not helpful to resolving cross-strait problems, Rice said in an interview with a Japanese TV station on Saturday.
She made the remarks while touching on China's "Anti-Secession" Law. The US State Department released the contents of the interview the same day.
Saying that neither side of the Taiwan Strait can resolve the cross-strait problem on its own, Rice noted that "unilateral measures that only increase tension rather than reducing them are simply not helpful."
Talking about China's human rights issue and the EU's intention to lift its arms sales ban on China, Rice said that although the US has decided not to seek a human rights resolution at the UN Commission on Human rights this year, the resolution is "something that comes up every year," adding, however, that "the removal of arms embargo doesn't come up every year and once it's removed, it's removed."
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
RSS