US changing its stance on Taiwan: Lu

Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) yesterday hailed US President George W. Bush's statement of support for Taiwan expressed during his latest trip to China, adding it's time for Taiwan to break the shackles of Beijing's "one China" principle.

During a keynote speech at a panel discussion on Taiwan's future on the eve of the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Shanghai Communique, Lu lauded Bush's statements on Taiwan during his two-day trip to Beijing that concluded on Friday.

Although Bush and his predecessor Bill Clinton intended to transform China through peaceful means, Bush's approach to such an objective involved nothing that would sacrifice Taiwan's interests -- a sharp contrast to that of Clinton, Lu argued.

"Clinton didn't hesitate to sacrifice and harm Taiwan by uttering the `three nos'... while Bush respected and guarded Taiwan though both wanted to transform China through peaceful means," Lu said.

The "three nos," stated by Clinton during his visit to China in 1998, are: No support for an independent Taiwan; no recognition of "two Chinas" or one China and a separate Taiwan; and no support for Taiwan's admission to international organizations that require members to be states.

Bush avoided mentioning the "three nos" and the three Sino-US communiques, but did mention the Taiwan Relations Act, the 1979 US law that pledged that the US would supply Taiwan with the defensive weapons it needed to fend off a Chinese attack, twice during his two-day stay in Beijing.

Joanne Chang (裘兆琳), a research fellow at the Institute of European and American Studies at Academia Sinica, lauded Bush for debunking the "myth" among US foreign policy formulators that US concessions to China on the issue of Taiwan would ease cross-strait tensions.

"It's crystal clear that after Clinton's `three nos,' Beijing didn't relax its military threat toward Taiwan nor did it stop exporting weapons of mass destruction to evil countries," Chang said.

"Any US concession under pressure from China would do nothing but create the false impression that Taiwan was a local government subordinate to China's central government," Chang said.

"[Concessions] would not be conducive to dialogue across the Taiwan Strait because China won't treat Taiwan as an equal. I am glad Bush was able to shake off this myth," Chang said.

Bush said in Beijing on Friday that he supported the US' "one China" policy, which is often confused with Beijing's "one China" principle.

Washington's cautiously crafted "one China" policy only "acknowledges" that all Chinese on either side of the Taiwan Strait maintain "there is but one China and that Taiwan is a part of China."

But Beijing's "one China" principle stipulates that there is only one China, namely the People's Republic of China (PRC), and Taiwan is an inseparable part of it.

While Bush ducked mentioning the three communiques, it is time for Taiwan to drop China's "one China" principle for good, Lu said.

The three Sino-US communiques are the Shanghai Communique signed on Feb. 27, 1972; the Joint Communique on the establishment of diplomatic relations between the US and the PRC on Jan. 1, 1979; and the Aug. 17, 1982 Communique.

KMT legislator John Chang (章孝嚴), however, argued in another panel discussion that Taipei should not make too much hay from Bush's remarks on the issue of Taiwan because the basic framework for US policy toward Taiwan remained unchanged.

The US' "friendly" attitude toward Taiwan did not necessarily indicate a change in US policy toward Taiwan, and government officials in Taiwan should not over-simplify the situation, the former foreign minister under the KMT regime added.

KMT legislator Sun Kauo-hwa (孫國華) said he is currently seeking cross-party endorsement of a bill that calls for the US not to sacrifice Taiwan's interests when it engages China.