A comparison of State Department guidelines issued this month to all US diplomatic personnel explaining US policy on interactions with Taiwan and a parallel document issued in September 2006 shows that the latest guidelines contain a broad range of new prohibitions, despite statements by US and Taiwanese officials that the new guidelines offer “nothing new.”
The new guidelines, sent to all US diplomatic posts in an annual cable in advance of the Double Ten Day celebrations, are nearly twice as long as the 2006 document. The Taipei Times obtained a copy of the 2006 version on Wednesday.
Officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) became the first officials from either side to confirm the existence of the guidelines after a story about them appeared in the Taipei Times on Tuesday.
The Taipei Times has yet to receive a copy of last year’s guidelines, so it was not clear whether the additional prohibitions were added this month or a year ago, when tensions between US President George W. Bush, seeking China’s international support, and former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) were at rock bottom.
But the 2006 document contained significantly fewer prohibitions than the current one.
For instance, this year’s cable added a ban on flying the Taiwanese flag at any US government building, inserted a long section that severely limits US correspondence with Taiwanese officials, makes reference to the US’ so-called “one China” policy, contains a long section on the US’ policy toward Taiwan’s membership in international organizations and has a detailed list of curbs and prohibitions on travel by US officials to Taiwan.
None of these appeared in the 2006 cable.
In no part of the recent document are the tight restrictions on meetings between US and Taiwanese officials relaxed.
The cables are based on US government restrictions on interactions with Taiwan in force in one form or another since the US broke diplomatic relations in 1978, and most recently issued as formal guidelines in 2001, just after Bush took office. However, references in the 2006 cable indicate that the annual cables have been issued at least since 1991, when Bush’s father, George Bush, was president.
One of the more striking additions to the current cable is the section on Taiwan’s international participation, which does not directly relate to the cable’s main subject.
“Consistent with our one China policy,” it says, the US does not support Taiwanese membership in organizations requiring statehood, although it does support “as appropriate” Taiwan’s “involvement” in other international bodies.
“Within the parameters of our one China policy,” it adds, the US “does not take a position on what Taiwan’s title should be in international organizations. The United States supports flexible arrangements and nomenclature acceptable to both the PRC [People’s Republic of China] and Taiwan and opposes attempts by either side to use nomenclature for political purposes inconsistent with US policy.”
Washington’s “overall goal,” it says, is “to enable the people on [sic] Taiwan to comply with international regulations and guidelines and receive appropriate international assistance and advice, despite Taipei’s general lack of recognition as an independent state.”
If that paragraph was added last year, as appears likely, instead of this month, that would coincide with Chen’s efforts to win an election-day referendum to have Taiwan join the UN using the name Taiwan, a move, vehemently opposed by both China and the Bush administration, that poisoned Washington-Taipei relations last year.
The other additions to the cable, such as the travel restrictions, the convoluted rules on written correspondence and the strictures on attending official affairs and parties, are not inconsistent with the 2001 guidelines.
In Taiwan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday reiterated that the latest guidelines do not offer any new insight into Washington’s Taiwan policy.
The document, ministry spokesman Henry Chen (陳銘政) said, has been sent each year since 1991 and although there have been minor changes, the overall principles remain the same.
AIT Director Stephen Young echoed Henry Chen’s remarks and said that US policy toward Taiwan had “not changed at all.”
“The media just made a story out of it,” he said yesterday.
AIT Press Officer Lawrence Walker said the AIT was a non-governmental organization that is instructed to carry out unofficial relations between Taiwan and the US and therefore a bulk of the guidelines do not pertain to AIT staff, such as attending the Double Ten Day celebrations.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY JENNY W. HSU
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) yesterday appealed to the authorities to release former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) from pretrial detention amid conflicting reports about his health. The TPP at a news conference on Thursday said that Ko should be released to a hospital for treatment, adding that he has blood in his urine and had spells of pain and nausea followed by vomiting over the past three months. Hsieh Yen-yau (謝炎堯), a retired professor of internal medicine and Ko’s former teacher, said that Ko’s symptoms aligned with gallstones, kidney inflammation and potentially dangerous heart conditions. Ko, charged with