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Editorial: A good election for Taiwan

US President George W. Bush's Republicans won a major victory in the Senate, House and governorship elections on Tuesday. The Republicans won majorities in both the Senate and the House, and 20 out of the 36 governorships up for grabs. The election results have washed away doubts over the legitimacy of Bush's own election. Republican control of the Congress will be an enormous help for the Bush administration im passing key legislation. Unanimity between the White House and Congress means the US will face fewer internal constraints on its actions in other parts of the world.

The Republican victory was largely due to the fact that Bush was able to utilize the Sept. 11 attacks and the Washington sniper case. Security proved to be a bigger factor for US voters than the poor performance of the US economy.

The election results may also encourage the Bush administration to get tougher with Iraq and North Korea. As the war drums sound for an attack on Iraq, international concern will also increase about US unilateralism in its handling of international affairs.

Tuesday's elections saw the exit of some of Taiwan's strongest congressional supporters -- including Benjamin Gilman, Jesse Helms, Frank Murkowski and Robert Torricelli. However, all four co-chairmen of the Taiwan Caucus -- Bob Wexler, Steve Chabot, Sherrod Brown and Dana Rohrabacher -- won their re-election bids, as did most members of the Taiwan Caucus. Congressional support for Taiwan remains stable -- a pretty good outcome as far as Taipei is concerned. The Congress has always been friendlier to Taiwan than the executive branch but Bush is the friendliest leader in Washington toward Taiwan in recent years.

A more stable status for Bush is also positive for Taiwan-US relations. The election results mean a golden opportunity for Taiwan to push its relations with the US. Taiwan's political parties should seize this opportunity and help the government speed up negotiations on a free trade agreement. Taiwan should also seek US backing of its demand that Beijing remove its ballistic missiles aimed at Taiwan and halt other hostile acts such as Chinese naval ships trespassing in Taiwan's waters. Taiwan should speed up the acquisition of defensive weapons such as Kidd-class destroyers, submarines and AEGIS-equipped warships, as well as expand military cooperation and intelligence exchange with the US. And the government should ensure that it is included in the global anti-terror network.

The Taiwan Relations Act and the three Sino-US communiques constitute the framework for US-China-Taiwan trilateral relations, but the communiques and the "one China" principle are leftovers from the Cold War era. Taiwan's parties should lobby the US government and the Congress to drop the communiques, respect the rights and will of the people of Taiwan and handle Taiwan-China matters under the principle of peaceful resolution.

No one can predict how long this golden era for Taiwan-US relations will last. If Taiwan's political parties continue to waste their energy with domestic wrangling and confuse the US, they will not be able to seize the opportunity to readjust the basic framework for Taiwan-US relations or to create a more advantageous environment for the nation. This is too good an opportunity to waste or let slip away because once it is gone Taiwan will have to work much harder to get the same results.
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