US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Friday called for a reduction in military tensions and deployments across the Taiwan Strait.
Speaking just days before the arrival in Washington of Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤), Clinton gave notice that there would be no changes in US-Taiwan relations — despite signals from Beijing that it is strongly opposed to US weapons sales to Taipei.
“On Taiwan, we are encouraged by the greater dialogue and economic cooperation between the mainland and Taiwan — as witnessed by the historic completion of the cross-strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement [ECFA],” Clinton said.
“Our approach continues to be guided by our ‘one China’ policy based on the Three Joint Communiques and the Taiwan Relations Act,” she said.
“In the period ahead, we seek to encourage and see more dialogue and exchanges between the two sides, as well as reduced tensions and deployments,” she added.
Analysts said later that by “deployments” Clinton was referring to the 1,000-plus missiles that China has aimed at Taiwan.
There has been speculation in Washington that US President Barack Obama will raise the possibility of reducing the missile numbers when he meets with Hu for a White House summit meeting on Wednesday.
In an article published earlier in the week, the Washington Times said that the Obama administration would announce a US$4 billion arms package for Taiwan some time after the Hu visit, and that the package would include equipment to upgrade Taiwan’s 145 F-16 jet fighters with new electronics, engines and missiles.
The US has not confirmed the report.
Clinton’s brief but significant remarks about Taiwan came at the end of a long speech at the US Department of State, and was meant to set the scene for Hu’s visit.
“It is up to both nations to translate the high-level pledges of summits and state visits into action. Real action, on real issues,” Clinton said.
“America and China have arrived at a critical juncture, a time when the choices we make — big and small — will shape the trajectory of this relationship,” she said.
Clinton urged China to examine its policies on trade, climate change and North Korea and to further open its markets and let its currency appreciate faster. She promised that there would be no backing down on the strong US stand on human rights.
She said the US had watched China’s efforts to modernize and expand its military “and we have sought clarity as to its intentions.”
She said that both sides needed to build trust, understanding of intentions and familiarity.
Clinton left the strong impression that the US would be as friendly and as cooperative with China as it could, but that there would be no compromise on policies or principles.
That seems to echo the national mood as reflected in the media and amongst the intelligentsia.
As China expert Joseph Bosco wrote in the Christian Science Monitor on Friday: “China games the global economic system by labor exploitation, environmental degradation, currency manipulation, mercantilist trade practices, technology and intellectual property theft and cyber-sabotage.
“Obama cannot turn all this around in one meeting. But he can lay out a new framework for US-China relations, based on candor and resolve to protect US national interests and those of our friends and allies,” Bosco wrote.
He said it was time for the US to “draw some lines” and to tell Beijing that the US would defend democratic Taiwan against Chinese aggression or coercion.
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
‘DETERRENT’: US national security adviser-designate Mike Waltz said that he wants to speed up deliveries of weapons purchased by Taiwan to deter threats from China US president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, affirmed his commitment to peace in the Taiwan Strait during his confirmation hearing in Washington on Tuesday. Hegseth called China “the most comprehensive and serious challenge to US national security” and said that he would aim to limit Beijing’s expansion in the Indo-Pacific region, Voice of America reported. He would also adhere to long-standing policies to prevent miscalculations, Hegseth added. The US Senate Armed Services Committee hearing was the first for a nominee of Trump’s incoming Cabinet, and questions mostly focused on whether he was fit for the
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
RSS