Deputy US Secretary of State James Steinberg has refused to comment on President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) recent declaration that he will never ask the US to fight for Taiwan.
“It’s not particularly useful to speculate what would happen in the event that conflict comes about,” he said.
Speaking at a conference on “US-China Cooperation on Global Issues,” Steinberg said: “The goal is to try to avoid it [conflict] and that comes about by a commitment by both sides to look for a peaceful resolution of their differences that takes into account the interests and the wishes of parties on both sides of the [Taiwan] Strait.”
Steinberg had been asked at the conference — organized by the Brookings Institution in Washington — if he was encouraged by Ma’s determination that Taiwan would defend itself, or if he was relieved that the US would “never be dragged into a potentially bloody war” or if he was concerned that Ma was distancing Taiwan from the US.
“We’re generally quite encouraged by the direction of cross-strait relations between Taiwan and the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” he said. “I think we have long believed that a strategy of engagement by the two sides to look for a peaceful resolution of the issues is critical to their common future.”
“We have always believed that this is something that is best resolved through dialogue and that we’ve encouraged Beijing to make clear that it can respond to these efforts by the leadership in Taiwan to try to find common ground, to build trust across the straits,” he said.
However, he would not be drawn into a discussion of what Ma had said.
“The discussions on the economic cooperation framework [agreement] are particularly important. That provides a foundation for the two sides really to deal with each other, because this is a situation where conflict is in nobody’s interest,” Steinberg said.
Earlier, he said that both Washington and Beijing were “very focused” on preparing for a second Strategic and Economic Dialogue scheduled to take place on May 24 and May 25 in Beijing.
Led by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a team of 15 US Cabinet members and agency heads will take part in the meeting to discuss international and regional security issues, clean energy and climate change and the global economic crisis.
“We will undoubtedly also discuss core issues like peace and security in the Taiwan Strait and, from our perspective, the need for China to have a deeper engagement with the Dalai Lama over Tibet within the framework of the one-China policy that we have continued to reiterate,” Steinberg said.
Steinberg said the second Strategic and Economic Dialogue — the first was held last year in Washington — would be used to deal with long-term challenges and “also frankly as an action-forcing event to help us move forward on some issues.”
It would be a great opportunity to sustain dialogue between key decision-makers and policymakers in both governments, he said.
“Each side is free to raise the issues of their concern and we will have an opportunity to make our points about issues including human rights and religious freedom, the need to protect intellectual property, our concerns about aspects of the military modernization in China as well as the issue of the overall global economic balance and the role of exchange rates,” Steinberg said.
He said that for the most part, the US and China would “sink or swim together” on major issues from global economic growth to health to terrorism to proliferation to protecting sea lanes.
Asked if China had an increasing interest in building trust and confidence, Steinberg said that one of the great challenges facing Washington was how to understand and adapt to China’s growing military power.
“Because China’s approach lacks the kind of transparency that we’d like, we do have questions about the long-term intentions,” he said.
Steinberg said Washington wanted to strengthen military-to-military exchanges — cut short when the US announced new arms sales to Taiwan earlier this year — and to better understand China’s goals, plans and intentions.
It is necessary, he said, to know what was driving China’s decisions over military modernization, not just in terms of equipment but also in terms of doctrine and operations, “to give us the assurance that what it is seeking to achieve is consistent with the security and the political and economic interest of others.”
CIVIL DEFENSE: More reservists in alternative service would help establish a sound civil defense system for use in wartime and during natural disasters, Kuma Academy’s CEO said While a total of 120,000 reservists are expected to be called up for alternative reserve drills this year, compared with the 6,505 drilled last year, the number has been revised to 58,000 due to a postponed training date, Deputy Minster of the Interior Ma Shih-yuan (馬士元) said. In principle, the ministry still aims to call up 120,000 reservists for alternative reserve drills next year, he said, but the actual number would not be decided later until after this year’s evaluation. The increase follows a Legislative Yuan request that the Ministry of the Interior address low recruitment rates, which it made while reviewing
WARNING: China has stepped up harassment of foreign vessels after its new regulation took effect last month, an official said, citing an incident in the Diaoyutai Islands The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday linked China’s seizure of a Taiwanese fishing vessel illegally operating in its territorial waters to Beijing’s new regulation authorizing the China Coast Guard to seize boats in waters it claims. Chinese officials boarded and then seized a Taiwanese fishing vessel operating near China’s coast close to Kinmen County late on Tuesday and took it to a Chinese port, the CGA said. The Penghu-registered squid fishing vessel Da Jin Man No. 88 (大進滿88) was boarded and seized by China Coast Guard east-northeast of Liaoluo Bay (料羅灣), 17.5 nautical miles (32.4km) from Taiwan’s restricted waters off Kinmen,
DETERRENCE: Along with US$500 million in military aid and up to US$2 billion in loans and loan guarantees, the bill would allocate US$400 million to countering PRC influence The US House of Representatives on Friday approved an appropriations bill for fiscal year 2025 that includes US$500 million in military aid for Taiwan. The legislation, which authorizes funding for the US Department of State, US foreign operations and related programs for next year, passed 212-200 in the Republican-led House. The bill stipulates that the US would provide no less than US$500 million in foreign military financing for Taiwan to enhance deterrence across the Taiwan Strait, and offer Taipei up to US$2 billion in loans and loan guarantees for the same purpose. The funding would be made available under the US’ Foreign Military
As eight basketball-playing international students appealed to the Taiwanese basketball industry after they were excluded from the draft of an upcoming new league merging the P.League+ and the T1 League, the new league’s preparatory committee spokesperson Chang Shu-jen (張樹人) yesterday said the committee would tomorrow discuss the supplementary measures and whether the international students can join the draft. The students on Tuesday called for support on their right to play in the upcoming new league, after a merger involving the two leagues impacted their eligibility for the draft. The international players from the University Basketball Association (UBA), led by first pick prospect