The controversy surrounding the Taiwan Security Enhancement Act -- now mired in disputes between the White House and Congress -- may be an indication that US President Bill Clinton's Taiwan policy has deviated from political realities and America's own interests, and that the time has come to redefine the US' foreign policy direction.
The key second section of the act -- titled "Findings" -- deals with the issue of redefining the status of democratic Taiwan, which is even more significant than the concrete measures for strengthening security. The section contains two key points:
1). Articles Two, Three, and Four of Section Two state that Taiwan has experienced a "major political transformation" and is now a "true multiparty democracy" with an economy based on "free market principles." It is also "separate and distinct from" communist China. "Any determination of the ultimate status of Taiwan must have the express consent of the people on Taiwan."
These statements amount to confirmation of a political reality: Taiwan's sovereignty is independent from communist China. Clinton's "three no's" policy toward Taiwan amounts to turning a blind eye to reality in order to placate communist China's desire to swallow democratic Taiwan.
2.). Articles 15, 16, and 17 of Section Two state that it is in the national interest of the US to "eliminate ambiguity" and clearly express its support for Taiwan's democratic government and ensure that the Taiwanese people can "maintain their democracy free from coercion" and "from the use of force." Ambiguity and lack of clarity will lead to "unnecessary misunderstandings or confrontations" between the US and communist China, with "grave consequences for the security of the Western Pacific region."
Communist China has used ambiguity and obfuscation to pressure the Clinton administration to adopt the so-called "One Three Three Policy" (one China, three communiques, three no's). First of all, it tried to squeeze away Taiwan's international space, secondly to press Taiwan into accepting the "Interim Agreements" and into the "one country, two systems" mold, then finally to cause Taiwan to lose its sovereignty and become part of communist China. If Taiwan tries to make a realistic clarification of the ambiguity -- for example, Lee Teng-hui's (李登輝) model for special state-to-state relations -- then communist China immediately resorts to military threats, which lie at the root of tensions across the Taiwan Strait.
The Taiwan Security Enhancement Act was drafted jointly by Republican and Democratic representatives in the House Foreign Relations Committee. The act was passed 32-6, despite fierce opposition from the White House and a lackluster attitude from Taiwan. In fact, there is little ground on which to oppose the act. US Representative Tom Lantos said the act is a deliberate move by the Republicans to humiliate the Clinton administration. But Democratic House members said in response that the act was proposed jointly by Republican and Democratic representatives. Another Republican representative gave a rather different reason for his opposition to the act: the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO) in the US had said it had not asked for the promulgation of the act. Representatives of both the ROC and the PRC believe there is no necessity for this act because the PRC will not attack Taiwan as long as Taiwan does not declare independence, he said.
RSS