Cheney Prods China on Taiwan, North Korea

Reuters via Yahoo! ^ | Tuesday, April 13, 2004 | By Adam Entous

[Momaw Nadon]

BEIJING (Reuters) - Vice President Dick Cheney started a three-day visit to China Tuesday aimed at keeping a lid on tension between China and Taiwan and jump-starting talks to curb North Korea's nuclear ambitions.

In his first closed-door meeting after arriving from Tokyo, Cheney reassured Chinese leaders that the United States did not support Taiwan independence and would oppose unilateral steps by either side, according to China's official Xinhua news agency.

But Washington is increasingly concerned by China's build-up of ballistic missiles capable of striking Taiwan, and Cheney was expected to raise the issue when talks resume on Wednesday.

China, in turn, was pressing the United States to halt arms sales to Taiwan, which Beijing views as a rogue province. "We demand the American side change their mistaken practice," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan said.

As in Japan, violence in Iraq was expected to dominate Cheney's visit to China.

But in a break just hours before his arrival, seven Chinese who had been taken hostage were released, clearing the way for Cheney to focus on other security issues, chief among them the talks on North Korea's nuclear programs.

Cheney comes to Beijing armed with fresh evidence about North Korea's ties to the father of Pakistan's nuclear bomb, officials said.

"For all those reasons, this is a very important issue for us to continue to focus on," a senior administration official told reporters, adding that part of Cheney's mission was to "move this whole process forward."

Economic issues will top the agenda as well.

In talks Wednesday with Premier Wen Jiabao, Cheney is expected to press China to revalue its currency, though no breakthrough is expected.

Washington wants Beijing to drop proposed regulations that would restrict imports of wireless computers and other hi-tech products. Washington says the moves violate world trade rules.

Cheney is also expected to press Wen to address U.S. concern over tax policies that the United States says represent an unfair barrier to semiconductor imports. Washington has filed a complaint against China in the World Trade Organization over semiconductor dispute -- the first case against China since it joined the WTO in December 2001.

But Taiwan could be the most combustible issue on the agenda.

Cheney raised the thorny issue during his first meeting -- with Chinese Vice President Zeng Qinghong.

"We are opposed to unilateral efforts to change the circumstances in the Taiwan Strait, on other side; and we believe any differences between Beijing and Taipei ought to be resolved through negotiations," a senior Bush administration official said before Cheney's visit.

Wednesday, Cheney meets Wen, President Hu Jintao and Hu's predecessor, Jiang Zemin, who remains military chief, before flying to Shanghai.

Cheney first visited China in 1975 with then U.S. President Gerald Ford. He made a second trip in 1995.

Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi is due to visit the United States from April 19 to 25 to try to narrow trade differences, Kong said.

Beijing has threatened to attack Taiwan if it declares independence. The two have been bitter rivals since their split at the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949, but trade, investment and tourism have blossomed since the late 1980s.

Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian, who Beijing suspects is pushing the island toward independence, was re-elected in March after a mysterious election eve assassination. The election result is being challenged by the opposition.

[Momaw Nadon]

FYI and discussion

[GOP_1900AD]

Still too much appeasement. The "One China" policy is shop worn and obsolete and should have been jettisoned in 1989. And no nuclear reactors for the PRC from US sources. We need to be of one mind toward the PRC; our ambiguity only makes them think we are a paper Tiger. Give war (or at least the strong threat of it) a chance.