China delivers blunt warning to U.S.

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 communiquÃ©s signed by the two countries in 1979 and 1982.

In the final communiquÃ©, 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 communiquÃ©s. 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 communiquÃ©s, 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.

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.

hello all, i am Chinese from Beijing.

i would like to make several points. it is safe to say that the points i am making here are not only personal, but also show some mentality of the the Chinese people collectively.

-Unlike some of u assumed, we think the United States of America is more of a friend than a foe.

-China will never nuke anyone, if she's not being nuked.
this is true no matter how many or how few nukes we have.

-Many take the competition from China as one from an evil state. and it's wrong. the trade btw both sides is good for USA too. and the compitetion is something inevitable and not lethal. it does mutual good and promotes exchange in the mental level too. frankly, i'd say we know America better than u know China.

-some posts says the demand of China makes raw materials' price higher (oil, steel, chemicals, woods...and so on so forth...). and that changes the American way of living. indeed, u consume more than any other economical entity and produce more waste which change the environment. we need yet to change that. it is a right for China and the Chinese people to develop, so it is the right for anyone. if the logic here is: if u dont develop, thus the price remains the same, so ur development is evil. that's intrisically wrong.

-as to the the crux of the discussion here, Taiwan, i'd say a little bit more knowledge on Chinese history and mentality would be greatly helpful for ur voice, which is being listened, to be more relevant.

-it is wrong to put that we dont love freeedom.
we do. i do. but the "freedom" that comes with control, domination, economical submission, political inculcating, and religious preach is not freedom. if u look at Iraq, the people there hail the topple-down of the Saddam, and hate the presence of ur troops. u claim u have given freedom to the country, and sovereignty, the Iraqi ppl dont think so. and i dont think so either. look: the freedom u claim u give Iraq is one thing that comes with destruction of the country, humiliation of the ppl and culture and military domination. this thing is called invasion in my country, which is a very much hated word.

u claim u give the Iraqis sovereignty. what u call then sovereignty? with ur superior military presence. it's the mentality plays in here. the ppl there will never think they have sovereignty with ur tanks, troops, helis and Carrier ready to send out Tomcats.

i elavorate ther with the case of Iraq in order to discuss with u a bit on freedom.

-some posts compare China now with the Nazi Germany. i am really disturbed by this comparison. in europe, i think France is the last country to resort to fascism, the French ppl are just not able to do fascism thing, a good ppl. in aisa, China would be the first to stand upright to fight against fascism. Japanese fascism and jingoism inflicted the agony of the past. and we are as determined as u, if not more, to fight fascism.

Japan is a terrible country in nature. ur memory of their ferocities is certainly fading, with the illusion that u have military there, that Japan is democratic, that Japan is rich and that Japan's true momentum is not to confront once more America.

Japan certainly knows how to build WMDs, and how to bulid the delivery devices. their military doesnt lack any technology, mor man power.

when japan grows and grows enough strong and opportunistic, with all their much-and-well-concealed hatred, they certainly will strike China again, and America will be the 2nd on their list. the reason is quite simple, althought u dont pay much attention:
u defeated them, the disgrace condensed into hatred and concealed.

u nuked them. the hatred is as evil as evil itself.

i really recommend u google "nanjing massacre" and "nanjing holocaust" to learn about what they did.

the United States of America helped the us to fight Japanese in WWII, and once more as a Chinese i very much appreciate ur help and am thankful. i only wanna remind u, my friend, the Chinese have no hatred towards America. it is baseless and wicked to say we hate America. ideology and small scale regional conflict and a little bit more economical competition are not enough for hatred, esp. for China, who goes thru longer history as a relatively distinct identity, and who has seen a lot more about the good and bad of homo sapiens.

Japan has, unfortunately, that hatred for China and America.

they only cenceal, wait, and everyday grows more twisted.(hentai).

-the intention of China, with her rising, is not to dominate the pacific, nor control puppet countries. the intention is to defend her from any sppression, any destruction, any act of invasion, any effort from separation.

America can be assured, however here only with my sincere opinion, that China is a friend if u continue to champine human dignity, advancement and equality. America can also be assured if once again, ferocious peril and death and fire ingnited in pacific. China will be along side once again with America. She is not devil because of the people are not.

"Sort of like your spelling? Besides, he was referring to the savagery that is communism, not specifically to Chinese or Chinese culture. It's a funny, funny, funny thing that Chinese communists have gone on and on about refusing to be tainted or swayed by Western culture while at the same time their entire political philosophy that has held the mainland Chinese people in thrall is an outdated Western political philosophy with a bit of wacko Maoist fringe to trick it out as supposedly Chinese."

i dont useless vulgars, here they are indeed useless.

u can always find ur excuse for every indecent utterance as long as it comes from ur side. i am not even choosing a side, because i think the discussion itself is a lot more meaningful then choosing sides. and further more, any siding here would be very irrelevant.

so what the purpose u ppl here hit ur keyboards? just ventilating ur inculcated ideology and thoughts?

furthermore, it is u who need first to get properly updated ur OUTdated knowledge...and attitude. if not, ur and other many hostile echoes, posts and grandstanding to me who come from the country u talk about here would be very childish in some cases and ideologicall rigid and fanatic in some other cases.

professional up, or u just come back from ur workplace and are angry about ur boss or something, i recommend u ventilate like a better loser somewhere else, where no one lafs at ur bigotry and less-informedness.

for ur info, a name with ending of -ism doesnt tell u everything. who cares what -ism u claim? it's always about what u do. the case for the moment is Iraq. u claim u give freedom to the Iraqi ppl, and it is quite a claim.

i agree the world is better of w/o Saddam, but if u take ur gut to take a walk in a Iraqi neighborhood, they will tell u:

-Saddam's topple-down is good.
-the presence of American presence is not appreciated, that;s why bombs are being tossed everyday against ur military or ur puppet government.
-the freedom u give them is one with destruction, humiliation and economical (oil) submission. i dont call such a thing freedom. and i will never say Iraq has sovereignty now with ur military on street and off coast.
-look like the sorry puppet government u raise, it is not truely Iraqi ppl's government. it is ur puppet, why everyone in that government speaks english? that;s so simple a question.......
-as far as i concern, as long as Chinese government (with many others, explicitly opposing ur policy or implicitly) stands up with the stance of championing TRUTH and JUSTICE, i will think more before i say Chinese government is the enemy of TRUTH and JUSTICE.

while u enjoy ur little enjoyment of Miller beer and a steak of best meat, when u are full and satisfied, and would like to think more in the night , under ur starry sky, think about how much humiliated and starving and poor the Iraqi ppl are suffering!

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