Posted on 04/21/2006 3:18:06 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
In remarks certain to please visiting Chinese President Hu Jintao, U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein on Thursday told a gathering of Chinese-American business and cultural leaders in San Francisco that the United States has no obligation to defend Taiwan if it provokes China into a military confrontation.
Feinstein's comments came on a day when Hu and President Bush sat down together in Washington to discuss a range of issues -- including Taiwan, which China regards as the No. 1 issue in U.S.-China relations. Before his first U.S. visit this week, Hu urged Taiwanese leaders to resume talks with China and called actions toward independence a threat to the region.
``It is important to point out a common misconception -- nowhere does the TRA explicitly require the U.S. to go to war with the mainland over Taiwan,'' Feinstein said, referring to the Taiwan Relations Act, at the annual conference of the Committee of 100 in San Francisco. The group helps foster U.S.-China relations.
The act, passed by the U.S. Congress in 1979, is the foundation of U.S.-Taiwan relations. Some supporters of Taiwan assume the United States is legally bound to defend the island, but the United States' obligation to Taiwan has increasingly become a point of contention as Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian has promoted Taiwan independence. His provocations have irked the Bush administration and caused tensions in U.S.-Taiwan relations.
China claims Taiwan as part of its territory. Since 1979, the United States has acknowledged China's ``one-China'' policy and recognizes Beijing as the legitimate government of all China.
Feinstein isn't the first U.S. official to assert that the United States isn't legally bound to defend Taiwan, but her comments are certain to cause ripples. Bush had pledged in 2001 that the ``U.S. will do whatever it takes to defend Taiwan.''
(Excerpt) Read more at kentucky.com ...
How does she get away with statements like this in California?
>>Taiwan is not a U.S. territory. <<
Surely he meant that as a joke.
What are you willing to do?
Will you volunteer for our military and spend the next few years in Taiwan?
Would you be willing to spend a whole lot more in taxes to pay other people to do it?
Or will you just type stuff on a message board?
Been there done that...Be glad to do it again.
If the President of Tiawan would hire say 2500 Disabled US Veterans and Retired diabled veterans as "Security Guards" and assign us beach patrol duties. IMO The issue would become moot as I do not see the American people letting 2500 of us be killed in a Chinese Invasion of Taiwan without a response.
We represent no net loss to high end of US Military capabilities so the idea could be a net plus overall.
If given the opportunity I would get on the plane tommorow.
W
I'll buy you a ticket.
So what's your point? If war breaks out between the US and China over Taiwan, I'll be there if they'll take me. So we will be we and me.
Does anyone remember these two incidents of loose unthinking words from the past:
1. in 1950 someone in the Administration or State department (I forget the exact details) made a speech or wrote a whitepaper where they failed to include S. Korea in the areas of interest to the United States.
2.In 1990 there was the famous mistake by State Department functionary April Glaspie where she informed Saddam Hussein that the US wasn't going to back up Kuwait becasue it wasn't important to US interests. (I think Joe Wilson of Plamegate fame might have been part of this fiasco as ambassador to Iraq but I'm not going to research it.)
The results: the invasion of Korea which led to the Korean War and the invasion of Kuwait which led to Gulf War I
Someone should warn Ms. Feinstein that dictatorships often don't realize how democracies function and may take her at her word.
When she made these remarks did she remember to mention her personal/business ties to Communist China?
We only have Dick Mountjoy in that race. He's a year or two older than DiFi who herself is 73 years old in June.
And there is ZERO chance that we will lift a finger to stop the PRC from invasion and conquest.
Zero.
Or, it could be ceded to Communist China if not sold, or kick the Nationalists off the island, or even return it to Japan. Many choices.
Some LIGHT NEEDS TO BE shown on this SENATOR!
It wouldn't hurt too, to link to a page on property taxes int San Francisco.
I happen to think that there should be some coordinate between what "our elected leaders" seem to think we should pay in taxes versus their what they actually pay. We need transparency.
My main issues in the upcoming election are winning the WoT, taxes, border protection, social security in that order - I'm not a ONE ISSUE voter.
Seems a treaty doesn't mean a thing to any Demorat.
Wonder if her Concealed Carry Permit means anything to her? There are only 7 in San Fran and she and her group have 3.
Woman live like a total elitist each and every single minute of each and every single day.....
chinese love her statement...if anything this will gain her votes. welcome to california, home of nothing good...i cant wait to move out of here
Richard Blum, Di's hubby, has done very well over the years, China deals notwithstanding. He sits on the Ca Board of Regents as well. ""
Probably another reason the schools are in such bad state of affairs in Calif.
I'd rather protect Taiwan than San Franfreko."
Good thought, shared by many here on FR, I would think.
Are you shure it is a territory?
I thought we had a treaty to defend it if it is attacked, but I didn't know it was a territory. If it were a territory, then wouldn't the residents be able to vote in USA elections, like Guam???
you are correct, taiwan is an independent nation.
Thanks. Sounds like a safe Dem seat to me.
Mehlman is spending money to groom candidates (esp. minorities) at lower levels. It's about time. I really hate to see situations where a Dem is vulnerable, but there is no reasonable GOP alternative.
A territory could have any number of attributes. Since Taiwan was acquired in war the status would be held in suspension until eventual disposal. At present there is no ambassador, one clue, but there is a military attache, another clue. The invasion by the Nationalists further complicates the status.
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