Posted on 07/16/2004 6:36:27 AM PDT by milestogo
WASHINGTON, (UPI) July 13 , 2004 -
The United States must cease its interference with Chinese internal affairs over the question of Taiwanese independence or face a serious deterioration of U.S.-China relations, China warned Tuesday.
In an official statement delivered to the press at the Embassy of the Republic of China, embassy spokesman Sun Weide spoke of China's grave concern regarding recent U.S. actions on the Taiwan question.
He urged the United States to halt all arms sales to the country, terminate military links, end official exchanges with Taiwanese authorities, and stop supporting Taiwan's efforts to join international organizations that require statehood.
Such actions, Sun said, violated the one-China policy to which U.S. leaders pledged adherence in three joint communiqués signed by the two countries in 1979 and 1982.
In the final communiqué, the United States reiterated its official recognition that there is but one China and Taiwan is part of China. The United States also stated the intention to gradually reduce arms sales to Taiwan over a period of time, leading to a final resolution.
Twenty-four years have passed, said Sun. It is time for the U.S. to honor its commitments.
If those commitments are not honored, he said, ... the reactions will not be in favor of the bilateral relations. ... It will affect our cooperation and China-U.S. relations as well.
Recent visits to China by U.S. national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and Vice President Dick Cheney were successful, he said, and on the whole, China-U.S relations have been steadily progressing.
However, it was made clear to Rice during her visit, Sun reported, that the importance of the Taiwan issue in China's relationship with the U.S. cannot be overemphasized.
The Taiwan question bears directly on China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, he said. We don't need any foreign countries to play any roles in their regards.
Sun rejected Cheney's suggestion during his April visit that there was a link between Chinese conduct over Hong Kong and the Taiwan question, saying China would not accept such interference from the U.S. government.
A senior administration official told the Washington Post in April that Cheney's message to China's leaders had been that Beijing's efforts to stifle democracy in Hong Kong might further kindle Taiwan's moves towards formal independence.
There is not, said Sun, any basis for American government officials to accuse China of eroding freedoms in Hong Kong.
Expressing Beijing's dissatisfaction over recent comments and actions by U.S. government officials and congressmen, he said democracy is expanding in Hong Kong, and people are enjoying freedoms more than anytime in the past.
China, he said, welcomes international dialogue on human rights on a basis of mutual respect. The recent breakdown in such dialogue, he said, is the sole responsibility of the United States.
He pointed to the anti-China resolution tabled by the United States at the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva this April. The defeat of the resolution, the 11th such defeat since 1990, shows the international community recognizes Chinese progress in this area, he continued.
The fact that Taiwan is part of China is also a fact recognized by the international community, said Sun.
A State Department spokesman declined to comment on Tuesday's statement, pointing to the April testimony of James E. Kelly, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, in which he outlined to the House International Relations Committee U.S. official policy on Taiwan.
The United States is committed, said Kelly, to the one-China policy based on the three joint communiqués. However, it will not support any unilateral move that alters Taiwan's status, and should China threaten force or coercion against Taiwan, the United States would use its capacity to resist that threat.
In addition, the U.S. government will continue to sell Taiwan defensive military equipment in accordance with the Taiwan Relations Act, introduced in 1979.
China strongly opposes this act as a violation of the one-China principle and the three joint communiqués, Sun noted at the press briefing.
However, if Beijing fulfills its obligations in adopting a military position that supports peaceful approaches to Taiwan, the defensive requirements will also change accordingly, according to Kelly's testimony.
China currently has short-range ballistic missiles aimed at Taiwan, which have been increasing by 50 to 75 missiles per year, Kelly stated.
Taiwan views this threat as a major obstacle to reunification. Taiwanese President Chen Shui-Bian said in his May inaugural speech:
If (China) continues to threaten Taiwan with military force, ... this will only serve to drive the hearts of the Taiwanese people further away and widen the divide in the Strait.
The chairman of Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council, Joseph Wu, said in a June statement that under such military pressure, Taiwan must reinforce its own defenses.
The Taiwanese position has been to call for peaceful and amicable negotiations on the issue of independence. Chen stated in his May speech that the Taiwanese government would not exclude any possibility as long as the people consented, and that the country understood China's insistence on reunification based on historical and ethnic concerns. However, he also called for a reciprocal understanding on the part of Beijing of the Taiwanese people's democratic concerns.
Sun, however, cited the refusal of the Taiwanese authorities to recognize the one-China principle as the main obstacle to reunification, which, he said, is the common wish of all Chinese people, including our compatriots in Taiwan. China will never tolerate Taiwanese independence, he added. We know that there is only one China in the world.
Such statements further confirm that Beijing's patience is beginning to wear thin, Ted Galen Carpenter, a leading foreign policy analyst, told United Press International Tuesday.
Beijing is becoming increasingly frustrated that the United States does not regard this matter as urgent, said Carpenter, vice president of defense and foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute in Washington.
In fact, he said, We've reached the point where the status quo is unsustainable for more than a few years.
The United States is caught in the middle of an increasingly tense situation, said Carpenter, and is currently heading for a nasty confrontation.
We're likely to have a major crisis within the next few years, he said.
If United States wants to avoid the line of fire, according to Carpenter, we should make clear to Taiwan that although we support negotiations, we will not defend Taiwan in the event of a military conflict.
We don't want to fight a war with China over Taiwan, he concluded, and that may be the bottom line.
I just made it up, that's how I came to find myself in charge. I'll have to think about how to fill in the twenty words missing in this essay.
Let's just get it over with !!
BUMP
Simple, they can nationalize all the industry we outsourced to them and sucker punch our economy. You can thank all the greedy morons out there for giving them that capacity.
We have to start doing to China what we started to the Soviets. We -- and the Taiwanese -- have to especially try to reach those Chinese who aren't happy with the party rulers. i suspect there are a lot of them.
LOL. Okay, and I promise that I'll check by at the end of the day to see what you've come up with. Be good to yourself today! ;-)
Nonetheless, don't make the mistake that the temple won't fall on their heads harder than ours. EVERYONE loses harder than we do when it comes to trade wars.
U2
"Simple, they can nationalize all the industry we outsourced to them and sucker punch our economy. You can thank all the greedy morons out there for giving them that capacity."
You are absolutely right.
Offshoring our semiconductor fabs and industrial capacity to a Communist country for profit is just STUPID.
The ONLY reason we were able to beat Japan during WWII was our HUGE manufacturing capability.
This was why Admiral Yamamoto warned the Japanese army NOT to attack the US, and he was correct.
We are collective fools for doing what we are currently doing, and I'm afraid we'll ultimately pay a high price for it.
You have to wonder what their motivation is. I can certainly understand it as an issue to drum up some nationalist feelings and prop up an unpopular gov't. That is thing I fear most. Of course, I'm not well read in Chinese history past or present.
(Please note when your post is removed, I didn't call the mods. You will be able to guess who did.)
Ive spent the better part of the last 2 years in Taipei and Hong Kong. They are Chinks, believe me. They'd cut our throats tomorrow if they could. Nearly ALL chinese "capitalism" is based upon graft and corruption, ala Russia. Chinks is appropriate.
Your lucky day, I guess they lost their righteous indignation and taste for calling the hall monitor.
Well, this was predictable....While American's flock to Wal-Mart....
Their latest statement is primarily posturing by Beijing. They're trying to intimidate us into backing away from Taiwan to a certain extent. Then they could use our actions as leverage to intimidate Taiwan. The best course of action is to continue selling defensive weapons to Taiwan and tell Beijing to pound sand if they don't like it. But it does look like we need to strengthen Taiwan's defensive capability so we don't need to assist Taiwan in the event of war with China.
Finally, what the world really needs is a Chinese Gorbachav, who decides to bring real freedom to China and allow Taiwan to become independent. Let's pray for such an enlightened leader.
Shut down the pacific. Let China starve. Jerks.
When they invade Taiwan, I expect we will boycott the olympics.
Them buggers are catching us up. I give it ten years max until the shooting starts.
I checked out that site. And I agree, it's only a matter of time......While American's are at Wal-Mart looking for those, "good deals"......
They can't get here from there, but they do have nucs. Thanks to the Democrats, those nucs are very accurate now.
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