Biden cool to talk on independence (BACK STABING)

taipeitimes ^ | 2001/09/12

[jedi150]

Biden cool to talk on independence

US-TAIWAN TIES: US Senator Joseph Biden says Taiwan shouldn't count on American help if a formal declaration of
independence prompts an attack from China
By Charles Snyder
STAFF REPORTER IN WASHINGTON

The US won't come to Taiwan's aid should China attack the country for making a unilateral declaration of independence, US
Senator Joseph Biden said on Monday.

Speaking to the National Press Club in Washington, Biden warned both sides of the Strait to refrain from "reckless action."

The US politician, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, visited Taiwan early last month and met with
President Chen Shui-bian (³¯¤ô«ó).

During that trip, Biden said the Taiwan Relations Act remained the key document governing America's commitments to Taiwan
-- remarks widely seen as an attempt to counter a promise by US President George W. Bush that America would do
"whatever it took" to defend the country.

Biden in his speech argued for the retention of what he called the "studied ambiguity'' of the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act,
whereby the US would remain ambiguous on whether it would help Taiwan repel a Chinese attack.

That act, he said, told Taiwan "you are no longer an independent country. You are no longer an independent nation-state.
We've agreed that you are going to be part of China and that you will work it out."

Biden also punctuated his comments with a clear warning: "So don't go declaring independence, because we are not willing to
go to war over your unilateral declaration of independence."

President Chen has said there is no need to declare independence, as the country is already sovereign and the master of its own
affairs.

Biden said the ambiguous wording of the Taiwan Relations Act leaves unanswered the question of whether the US would
defend Taiwan, "so we don't encourage reckless action on either side."

"Depending on how each of the parties behaves," he said, "we reserve the right, as we do in every circumstance, to use
American forces. ... It will depend upon the circumstances. That's how it's been for seven presidents. That's how it should
remain."

The US senator also warned China, saying that the Taiwan Relations Act also lets Beijing know that "if the mainland attempts to
[unify with Taiwan] by force and not dialogue, then the United States will provide the military means in terms of material to
prevent that from happening."

Biden said that America's "one China" policy rests on cross-strait dialogue, "where the parties mutually arrive at how unification
will take place."

Turning his attention to US military spending, Biden said US resources would be better spent helping Taiwan to improve its
defenses rather pursuing a multi-billion-dollar national missile defense system.

The senator outlined a number of alternative ways money could be spent -- in particular drawing attention to the condition of
plumbing systems at Taiwan's military installations.

"While we're at it, we may fix the plumbing in the barracks at Taipei, which I just visited ... they had to bring in water hoses
from outside to allow the women and men in there to be able to shave, to be able to use the bathroom, let alone drink any
water," he said.

Biden's comments -- the first since he visited Taiwan -- dealt mainly with his opposition to Bush's missile defense plan.

He warned that the defense shield could spark an arms race, with China, India, Pakistan and other countries boosting their
nuclear missile capabilities in response.

[Common Tator]

The US won't come to Taiwan's aid should China attack the country for making a unilateral declaration of independence, US Senator Joseph Biden said on Monday.

Biden is a bigger danger to the United States than Bin Lauden. He is an ambitions fool and doesn't give a damn about anything but himself. Is is exactly as Reagan said. "No nation was ever defeated because it was too strong. Every nation that has ever been defeated was defeated because it was too weak."

Biden is a dangerous fool. I don't mind him puting himself in danger, but he is puting us all in danger. Biden thinks we are safe if we kiss the butts of the nations that don't like us. n foreign affairs it is only important that all other powers fear you. Every great power has been feared by other nations. If the lessor powers do not fear a rich nation, they will attack it and its people. We have just had that happen.

It is obvious that hardly any one fears us any longer. Biden wants them to fear us even less. He is like all cowards, he equates security with going belly up. In a world or preditors, Biden sees safety in being the prey. The problem is the lions see us as lunch.

We had best hurt some people and do it quickly or none of us are safe. If Bush goes fishing for terrorists he should use Biden as bait. Does anyone know if sharks will byte on suckers?

[RANGERAIRBORNE]

If I were going to write a book on what is wrong with the American political system, I would certainly devote at least one chapter to Joe Biden- a sanctimonious fraud, if ever there was one.

How many people recall that he plagiarized, not only a speech, but the ENTIRE LIFE STORY of a British labour politician, Neal Kinnock?

Why was this not considered bizarre enough to forever bar this moron from public office?

I wonder just how much money he got from the Red Chinese for this latest betrayal.

[jedi150]

If I were going to write a book on what is wrong with the American political system, I would certainly devote at least one chapter to Joe Biden- a sanctimonious fraud, if ever there was one.

You could write a large book on him and his co-conspiritors that are in a large way responsable for what happened yesterday. This guy needs to have a few dirty socks shoved in his mouth before being allowed to visit another country and pull $#i! like this.