The US Department of State has issued a note of “clarification” that appears to contradict Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Chief of General Staff Chen Bingde’s (陳炳德) version of what he was told by US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton about US policy toward Taiwan.
At a Washington press conference on Wednesday, Chen said: “During my office call on Secretary Clinton this morning, she told me — she reiterated the US policy; that is, there is only one China in the world and Taiwan is part of China.”
His remarks alarmed Taiwanese-American groups, who called the US Department of State on Thursday asking for an explanation.
They particularly wanted to know if US policy toward Taiwan had changed.
Late on Thursday night, a US official said: “The United States has maintained a consistent policy across eight administrations; our ‘one China’ policy, based on the three US-China Joint Communiques and the Taiwan Relations Act, has not changed. The secretary reiterated this policy yesterday in her meeting with General Chen.”
“The United States welcomes the recent improvement in cross-strait relations, opposes any unilateral actions by either side to alter the status quo, and believes that cross-strait issues should be resolved peacefully in a manner acceptable to the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait,” the official added.
“In her meeting with Chen, the secretary also reviewed the results of last week’s S&ED [Strategic and Economic Dialogue] and noted the importance of having senior PLA representatives participate in the S&ED for the first time. The secretary emphasized the importance of developing more sustained and substantive military-to-military engagement that increases transparency and familiarity,” the official said. “The secretary and General Chen also emphasized the importance of people-to-people ties in building a positive, cooperative, comprehensive relationship between the United States and China.”
While the “clarification” seemed to go out of its way not to upset Chen, it also made clear — without directly saying it — that Clinton did not tell him that there was only “one China” in the world and that Taiwan was part of China.
Nor was Chen’s misrepresentation of Clinton’s remarks the only upset at the press conference that was held as part of the Chinese general’s week-long visit to the US.
The conference was held jointly with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen, and in response to a question about the possible sale of advanced F-16C/D fighter jets to Taiwan, Mullen also appeared to misrepresent US policy.
He said: “As General Chen said, Secretary Clinton repeated and I would only re-emphasize the United States policy supports a ‘one China’ policy. And I certainly share the view of the peaceful reunification of China.”
Later, Captain John Kirby, a spokesman for Mullen, explained: “The chairman fully supports the United States’ ‘one China’ policy, which is based on the three US-China Joint Communiques and the Taiwan Relations Act. This policy has been consistent across eight administrations. The United States supports a peaceful resolution acceptable to the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. It is this peaceful resolution to which the chairman was referring.”
When asked what its take on the matter was, the Washington-based Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA) said that the “misquotes and misinterpretations” by Chen and Mullen showed how confusing the US “one China” policy could be.
“The US needs to make it clear that its ‘one China’ policy only relates to which government is the government of China,” a FAPA official said.
“The US needs to make it clear that it supports democracy on the island and fully supports the people on the island determining their own future. The US should also make more of an effort to accept Taiwan as a full and equal member in the international community, instead of leaving it in diplomatic isolation. Admiral Mullen obviously misspoke, but it is highly regrettable that such misstatements by high US officials have become so commonplace,” the FAPA official added.
ENDEAVOR MANTA: The ship is programmed to automatically return to its designated home port and would self-destruct if seized by another party The Endeavor Manta, Taiwan’s first military-specification uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) tailor-made to operate in the Taiwan Strait in a bid to bolster the nation’s asymmetric combat capabilities made its first appearance at Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor yesterday. Taking inspiration from Ukraine’s navy, which is using USVs to force Russia’s Black Sea fleet to take shelter within its own ports, CSBC Taiwan (台灣國際造船) established a research and development unit on USVs last year, CSBC chairman Huang Cheng-hung (黃正弘) said. With the exception of the satellite guidance system and the outboard motors — which were purchased from foreign companies that were not affiliated with Chinese-funded
PERMIT REVOKED: The influencer at a news conference said the National Immigration Agency was infringing on human rights and persecuting Chinese spouses Chinese influencer “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣) yesterday evening voluntarily left Taiwan, despite saying yesterday morning that she had “no intention” of leaving after her residence permit was revoked over her comments on Taiwan being “unified” with China by military force. The Ministry of the Interior yesterday had said that it could forcibly deport the influencer at midnight, but was considering taking a more flexible approach and beginning procedures this morning. The influencer, whose given name is Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), departed on a 8:45pm flight from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to Fuzhou, China. Liu held a news conference at the airport at 7pm,
Authorities yesterday elaborated on the rules governing Employment Gold Cards after a US cardholder was barred from entering Taiwan for six years after working without a permit during a 2023 visit. American YouTuber LeLe Farley was barred after already being approved for an Employment Gold Card, he said in a video published on his channel on Saturday. Farley, who has more than 420,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel, was approved for his Gold Card last month, but was told at a check-in counter at the Los Angeles International Airport that he could not enter Taiwan. That was because he previously participated in two
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
RSS