The US will try to keep Taiwan as far down the agenda as possible during Chinese President Hu Jintao’s (胡錦濤) three-day state visit to Washington this week.
During a lengthy White House briefing on the visit, US National Security Adviser Tom Donilon detailed the main topics to be covered during all of Hu’s talks with US President Barack Obama and never once mentioned Taiwan.
China experts agree that US arms sales to Taiwan are of enormous importance to Beijing and conclude that Washington has -decided to play the issue down and leave it up to the other side to introduce it.
Obama has met Hu eight times in the last two years and it is believed that Hu raised Taiwan on each of these occasions.
Hu will arrive in Washington tomorrow evening and will have dinner that night in the private White House residence with Obama, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Donilon. The Chinese president will be accompanied by two senior aides.
Both sides have agreed that the topic of conversation that night will be the overall relationship.
Donilon said they would talk about the tone of the relationship, its purpose, areas of cooperation and whether the right mechanisms for dealing with problems are in place.
They will also discuss how they see the relationship developing over the next 10, 15 and 20 years.
The next morning Obama and Hu will meet again with very few aides in the Oval Office before moving to the Cabinet Room for a much-expanded meeting including US Treasury officials.
Later they will meet with Chinese business leaders, hold a short press conference and there will be a formal state dinner that night.
On Thursday, Hu will make his only public speech of the visit before leaving for Chicago.
Donilon has revealed that during the two closed summits in the White House — first in the Oval Office and then in the Cabinet Room — there will be three separate “baskets” of topics under discussion.
The first discussion will concentrate on security and political issues. The topics will be North Korea, Iran, Sudan and military-to-military relations.
However, it is during this session in the Oval Office that Hu is most likely to challenge the US about its continuing arms sales to Taiwan.
The next session, in the Cabinet Room, will deal with economic issues and US exports to China, which are growing at twice the rate of US exports to the rest of the world.
Lastly, they will discuss “global issues of special concern.”
“Human rights would fall into that category,” Donilon said.
Despite US efforts not to emphasize Taiwan, Obama and his national security team must be well aware of a letter delivered to the White House at the end of last week that was signed by 25 members of the US Senate — just more than a quarter — urging the president to “remain mindful” of the vital security interests of Taiwan during his talks with Hu.
“The United States and Taiwan have a long history of trade and friendship that we are pleased to have seen strengthen over the years. We ask that during President Hu’s visit, you emphasize that the US’s position on Taiwan remains clear: The US will support Taiwan’s security and continue to provide Taiwan with defensive arms,” it says. “The PRC [People’s Republic of China] has engaged in a large-scale military build-up over the past few years and has not abandoned the threat of force, with an estimated 1,000 active missiles pointed directly at Taiwan. For these reasons, it is of utmost importance that President Hu understands the United States’ unwavering commitment to providing Taiwan with the tools necessary for its self-defense.”
Seventy percent of middle and elementary schools now conduct English classes entirely in English, the Ministry of Education said, as it encourages schools nationwide to adopt this practice Minister of Education (MOE) Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) is scheduled to present a report on the government’s bilingual education policy to the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee today. The report would outline strategies aimed at expanding access to education, reducing regional disparities and improving talent cultivation. Implementation of bilingual education policies has varied across local governments, occasionally drawing public criticism. For example, some schools have required teachers of non-English subjects to pass English proficiency
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
TRADE: The premier pledged safeguards on ‘Made in Taiwan’ labeling, anti-dumping measures and stricter export controls to strengthen its position in trade talks Products labeled “made in Taiwan” must be genuinely made in Taiwan, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday, vowing to enforce strict safeguards against “origin laundering” and initiate anti-dumping investigations to prevent China dumping its products in Taiwan. Cho made the remarks in a discussion session with representatives from industries in Kaohsiung. In response to the US government’s recent announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on its trading partners, President William Lai (賴清德) and Cho last week began a series of consultations with industry leaders nationwide to gather feedback and address concerns. Taiwanese and US officials held a videoconference on Friday evening to discuss the
PERSONAL DATA: The implicated KMT members allegedly compiled their petitions by copying names from party lists without the consent of the people concerned Judicial authorities searched six locations yesterday and questioned six people, including one elderly Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) member and five KMT Youth League associates, about alleged signature forgery and fraud relating to their recall efforts against two Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators. After launching a probe into alleged signature forgery and related fraud in the KMT’s recall effort, prosecutors received a number of complaints, including about one petition that had 1,748 signatures of voters whose family members said they had already passed away, and also voters who said they did not approve the use of their name, Taipei Deputy Chief Prosecutor
RSS