Posted on 08/12/2002 8:54:44 AM PDT by It'salmosttolate
US reacts to `one country on each side'
MAC Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen is in the US to explain what President Chen Shui-bian meant by his controversial remarks on Saturday
By Charles Snyder STAFF REPORTER IN WASHINGTON
The US, in its first detailed response to President Chen Shui-bian's (³¯¤ô«ó) "one country on each side" of the Taiwan Strait statement, has reiterated its opposition to Taiwan independence and has indicated that it is satisfied with Taipei's explanations that Chen's statements did not constitute a unilateral declaration of independence.
White House spokesman Sean McCormack said that the George W. Bush administration takes "at face value" the government's explanations issued after Chen's comments that he did not intend his remarks as a declaration of independence.
McCormack also said that the administration still stands by Bush's comments in April of last year that the US would do "whatever it took" to defend Taiwan against an attack from China.
The statements came just hours before Mainland Affairs Council Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (½²^¤å) arrived in Washington from New York on an emergency mission to explain to US officials and think tanks what Chen meant and how his remarks affect the government's cross-strait policy.
In a press conference at Washington's Union Station, where Tsai arrived by train Wednesday afternoon, she indicated that she will have a tough job in the two or three days she is in the national's capital.
"I think that a lot of clarification is needed," she said, when asked whether she has detected concern in the US over Chen's remarks.
"I want to let the people [in Washington] understand better the situation in Taiwan. The situation is that there's no change in policy."
Early yesterday morning, Tsai held a lengthy meeting with members of two think tanks, the liberal Brookings Institution and the conservative American Enterprise Institute, which play important roles in helping form US government policy, and was scheduled to meet with Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage later in the day. It was not known whether she would meet anybody in the White House.
It is also understood that Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and the Pacific, James Kelly, is interrupting a vacation to return to Washington to meet with Tsai, an indication of the importance with which the administration views Chen's remarks.
The White House's McCormack reiterated that Washington has a "one China" policy and "we do not support Taiwan independence."
He took pains to emphasize the importance of the explanations made by the DPP and Chen's government that Chen's speech did not represent a declaration of independence.
"The question at issue is whether or not Taiwan should be an independent nation. And it is our understanding that authorities on Taiwan have publicly emphasized that Chen's Aug. 3 remarks were not, in fact, a call for independence. This is what we have been told, and we take these statements at face value," he said.
Reflecting Washington's concern, McCormack called on Taiwan and China not to exacerbate the situation in the Taiwan Strait. "We continue to urge all the parties to avoid any steps that may raise tensions, threaten peace and stability. And again, we look for ... a possible resumption of dialogue between Beijing and Taiwan," he said.
Wolfie said the same thing before this, a few months ago.
They should not say this in such a manner. For one, it is not true. Second, true or not true, it will not best help them acheived what they want.
We should have never gone along with the move to throw Taiwan off permanent membership on the UN Security Council, replacing them with Red China.
We should have never groveled before the Red Chinese in the name of "detente", when the sole purpose was to open up the Chinese market for American economic interests, at the expense of principle.
We should have never embraced all this "one China" poppycock, thus in principle sacrificing a free people to a totalitarian regime in the long run.
To have done all these things in the last 30 years is a betrayal of the principles of liberty which we claim to espouse. Having done them destroys our credibility when we intervene elsewhere in the world, citing these same principles. We portray ourselves as a people who will espouse liberty only when it is convenient (and profitable) to do so.
For shame.
Independence is a relic of the past, for people know not what is good for them. The masses are to be governed by an all wise group of elites that can plan their destiny. It is coincidental that it happens their plans give them immense wealth along with their power. This explains most of our contradictions we see in our foreign policy.
Now the Rockefeller wing of the GOP sends out a dimwitted shill to wave Bibles and pretend to love the constitution. To shed phony tears at the National Prayer Breakfast for babies who his daddy long ago consigned to the garbage can in the name of "population control." To act tough when he has never had to actually be tough in his whole insulated life.
What a freakin' shame.
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