US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell strongly denied reports that there was a split within the administration of US President Barack Obama over how to handle policies relating to China.
While he did not specifically mention Taiwan, there has been speculation for some time that the administration is divided on whether to sell F-16C/D fighter aircraft to Taiwan — a sale that is adamantly opposed by Beijing.
According to the Washington Times, one camp headed by US Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg favors policies of conciliation and concession in relations with China, while a second camp, including US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Campbell, is said to be “sad and disappointed” by China’s refusal to cooperate with the US on a wide range of issues.
“Look, all I can tell you in terms of the Asia-Pacific team, it is among the most cohesive, engaged groups of people I’ve ever worked with,” Campbell said at a Washington briefing on Tuesday. “There have been very productive discussions on all initiatives that we’ve been involved with. I will tell you that some of my best friends, people I work with most closely, are part of this group.”
“I think that the discussion of this kind of division is wrong, is incorrect. And myself as a person, I think of myself as quite optimistic generally and open. I would highlight instead a team that is working very hard in a very cohesive fashion together, not disunity. I think that’s totally incorrect,” Campbell said.
Some Washington-based China watchers believe Obama’s China team has experienced -considerable disagreement over policies on Taiwan.
One group is said to back policies aimed at supporting Taiwan’s democracy, while the other wants to promote the closest possible ties between Taiwan and China.
The article,published by the Washington Times last week said: “Since early in the administration, the president’s advisers were stymied in dealing with China on every major national security, diplomatic, political, economic and trade issue.”
In his briefing on Clinton’s -upcoming travels to the Asia--Pacific region, Campbell was asked if arms sales to Taiwan were discussed last week during talks in Washington with Taiwan Affairs Office Director Wang Yi (王毅).
“I’m not going to characterize the meetings directly with the visitor from China. I will say that the United States stated very clearly that we welcome the positive trends and dialogue across the Taiwan Strait,” Campbell said. “We want that process to continue and to deepen. And we look forward to a process of dialogue developing between Taiwan and China that was at a pace that was acceptable to the political environment inside Taipei.”
Reminded that Chinese president Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) is expected to visit Washington in January, Campbell was asked what particular problems the US wanted to work out before and during that visit.
“I think there’s going to be a very broad agenda. I think everyone understands that this is a very consequential trip for [Chinese] President Hu Jintao and the United States,” he said. “We will have a very detailed agenda of issues that we’re going to work on, ranging from energy security to the Korean Peninsula to other issues in Asia as a whole. So we understand the stakes and how important it is.”
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