Posted on 03/07/2007 5:07:38 AM PST by zook
Washington called President Chen Shui-bian's pledge to push for independence "unhelpful" Monday and reiterated its stance against independence for the island Beijing regards as a renegade province.
"As it is well-established, the U.S. does not support independence for Taiwan," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.
"President (George W.) Bush has repeatedly underscored his opposition to unilateral changes to the status quo by either Taipei or Beijing because this threatens regional peace and stability, U.S. national interests and Taiwan's own welfare," McCormack said.
He reminded that Chen had pledged in his 2000 and 2004 inaugurations to not declare independence, change the island state's name, or advocate other sovereignty themes.
"President Chen's fulfillment of his commitments is a test of leadership, dependability and statesmanship and of his ability to protect Taiwan's interests, its relations with others and to maintain peace and stability in the Strait," McCormack said.
"Rhetoric that could raise doubts about these commitments is unhelpful."
On Sunday Chen told a group of Taiwan independence advocates that "Taiwan wants independence, Taiwan wants to change its name, Taiwan wants a new constitution, Taiwan wants development."
Such rhetoric in the past has angered Beijing, and raised concerns in the United States, which has pledged to protect Taiwan from Chinese military aggression.
If you think China is Nazi Germany, then you are either living in the past, or in your own little fantasy world.
"My Liberty nor the Liberty of any American exists at the pleasure of those who control the Army or even our Government that is just an illusion."
You might run this by the Waco survivors.
I do not want to engage in unnecessary war with China. I do not want a single American to die for TI. Your remarks are entirely unpersuasive on those two points given the progress that the Chinese have made toward freedom.
No Biblical examples, please. The point is that China is allowing far more religious freedom than ever before, regardless of whether it kowtows to Rome.
Brother, am I glad to see you!!
Oops. Shouldn't have said "brother." We'll be called commie lovers.
But they should instead be satisfied with freedom in fact and leave the carefully worked out status quo be. Eventually the mainland will become a true democracy of some kind and unification can proceed peacefully with some kind of autonomy deal. I think that will happen before mid-century after a couple of economic shocks because of all the built-up corruption and inefficiency in the mainland economy.
This administration realizes - as will EVERY administration that comes after it - that the United States is not willing, or ABLE, to go to war with mainland China to protect Taiwan's "freedom".
Not in the way we will assist Israel in defending her freedom, if need be.
With mainland China's economic steps toward "freedom" (taken grudgingly), there also come grudging steps toward personal freedom. Granted, these are but baby steps right now, but the leaders of China will find that they can't hold back the waters of freedom forever (they will find this out with the 3 Gorges Dam someday, too).
And, with those steps, mainland China is actually "moving closer" to what Taiwan already _is_.
Thus, if the mainland moves on Taiwan (as it may in time, for, regardless of what they may claim, it will ALWAYS be the mainland's goal to reclaim Taiwan as "part of China"), we will not risk our nation for them, because the "differences worth defending" are - in reality - slowly, but inevitably, receding.
- John
It's certainly not on the same level, but it's essentially the same thing, government persecuting people due to their religious beliefs. Regardless of how severe the respective government crack down, it is indeed inherently evil.
As reasonable as some of your arguments are, I've yet to see you acknowledge that a lot of what the Chinese government does is indeed evil. This can be acknowledged without conceding your points on other issues regarding them.
Good to hear from you! And good to know there are some rational voices around here!
The mafia makes offers no one can refuse, but you make offers no one can understand.
Sorry, but the only thing that comes through clearly in your posts is that you're itching for a costly and useless fight with China.
You are wrong in both your understanding of U.S. policy and how we will respond to a military attack on Taiwan. Such an attack, as a matter of U.S. policy will result in our defense of Taiwan; not simply for Taiwan's sake but also because the failure to defend Taiwan would result in our near total withdrawal from Asia, which we cannot do because of all of our other commitments in Asia. It is totally not a matter of what Taiwan does or does not do. It is a matter of how China responds and if that response is with military attacks on Taiwan, then all our agreements with China will become null and void overnight, simultaneous with our defense of Taiwan. The present pretense that China is "reforming" will be a myth destroyed by its own actions, a myth we will have no need of supplying to the American public any longer, in fact we will not be able to.
China's present leaders are well aware of this, regardless of their public bluster. They know that an attack on Taiwan will be the end of our relations (all of them) and an end to their current prosperity.
I'll grant you that many evil things have occured in China and some continue to occur. Sometimes they result from government policy, sometimes from local officials' overzealousness. As I've already said, China has far to go.
I don't think that's gonna happen. They already paid for the palace.
America can keep its commitment to Asia without going to bat for TI. Japan understands this. S. Korea understands this. America has made it diplomatically very clear that Taiwan stands alone if she declares independence.
In the long run, good relations with a *free* and prosperous mainland are worth more to America than an independent Taiwan. I never bet on anything, but I'm almost willing to put money on this.
Wouldn't a free and prosperous China most likely end up with 7 different China's not including Taiwan?
"America has made it diplomatically very clear that Taiwan stands alone if she declares independence."
Again, you don't know what you are talking about.
The Chi-com appeasers at foggy bottom can spit and fume, publicly, all they want about Taiwan "provocations", while they remain silent about China's constant provocations.
The fact that we don't tell them to shut up is simply to let their diplomatic language try to keep things appearing balanced and unchanged. The fact is that the only thing, from a U.S. official policy point of view, that can change that balance is a military offensive by China.
The fact is that the official U.S. policy does not, acknowledge Taiwan as a province of China; it is officially uncomitted to a position on that matter; officially we do not say we agree with China's position; we say, officially, our position is that the definition of that issue MUST be worked out by China and Taiwan and that it cannot be worked out by military force. Our official policy is agnostic on the issue, and the other side of that agnostic position is that the dispute MUST be resolved without force. That position is not predicated on ANY NON-MILITARY action that Taiwan takes.
As far as Japan and South Korea are concerned, again you are wrong. Their agreements with us include the clear assumption that an attack on Taiwan will not be tolerated, and will be responded to with our defense of Taiwan. That is not wishful thinking on my part, that is U.S. strategic doctrine. Taiwan will not "stand alone" if it is attacked, no matter what declarations it does or does not make. Again, that is U.S. policy.
It is not a matter of defending or rejecting those declarations of Taiwan's, it is our policy to defend the position that the issue CANNNOT be resolved militarily, and any attempt by China to resolve the issue militarily will result in our seeing all our agreements with China as null and void.
"In the long run" it is not a given when there may yet be a "free" mainland China (if ever); but there is no question that that hoped for condition will not arise as long as the dictatorship remains in control there.
When would Taiwan happily and voluntarily join its cousins on the mainland, in some type of political union? When the dictatorship no longer rules there and not a moment sooner.
China is not ignorant that its prosperity depends on trade with us, while U.S. and other nations' manufacturers' have all the rest of Asia and eventually Africa and elsewhere to place their lower-cost manufacturing, if they want to; they are not dependent on China, it is simply a choice at the moment.
However, that choice is dependent on the continued belief in the myth that China is reforming and not just economically but politically. The maintenance of that myth will end the day a Chinese dictatorship attacks Taiwan; as will all of China's economic benefits and ties to US.
China knows (the world knows) that while "independence" or anything else can mean allot to Taiwan, none of the advantages of independence for Taiwan are any real and actual threat to the nation of China. The only thing an independent Taiwan threatens is the loss of public respect that the rulers would have, on the mainland, for their continued denial of political freedom on the mainland. The dictators use nationalism to hijack it in support of their desire to expand the imposition of their dictatorship to Taiwan. The entire issue is not about any real threat that Taiwan poses to the nation or people of China. Its the threat to the political rationale for the dictatorship. That, not any moral or security issue relative to the sovereignty of China is what concerns the dictators and why the Taiwanese continue to oppose any union with China. If China had a democratically elected government with full and guaranteed political freedoms, there would be majority support for some political arrangement with the mainland. Without that, there is no such majority on Taiwan and less and less so likely over time.
The longer political reforms remain elusive in China, the greater the pressure and the greater a majority for independence on Taiwan will grow.
Not necessarily. One of those could end up as an Islamic state, another as some other kind of government worse than what they currently have. And China will not allow its dismemberment.
You can type all that stuff as often as you like, but it won't make it true. The name "Wuli" is very close to "Wulu," but the latter means "deer in the fog." I think you may be in the fog.
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