At his press conference in Beijing, Powell said the recent US arms sales to Taiwan were in response to China's missile buildup. He said the sales conform to the US' "one China policy," which insists on peaceful resolution of the cross-straits issue and help to boost Taiwan's confidence about negotiating with China. This is in line with the statements of both Bush and President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
The crux of the problem is that Beijing sets "one China" as a precondition. China pressured former president Bill Clinton to put forth the so-called "three no's" policy toward Taiwan, resulting in former president Lee Teng-hui's (
Beijing should directly negotiate with Taipei if it wants its Taiwan policy to be effective. Qian, Zhu and Jiang have instead repeatedly raised the Taiwan issue with Powell, thereby strengthening US influence in the Taiwan Strait.
The Bush administration has avoided defining China and the US as either partners or enemies. It has said the US will establish a constructive relationship with China. Beijing has said that both sides have to jointly build a constructive, cooperative relationship. During an interview with Chinese Central TV, Powell still called the two parties "strategic competitors." China and the US cannot possibly be strategic partners, nor will they become eternal enemies.
China wants to change the US' hegemonic position in the Asia-Pacific region through multipolar means. It expanded the "Shang-hai Five" grouping into the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, with Uzbekistan as the sixth member. It also signed a friendship and cooperation treaty with Russia which is actually a strategic partnership. It is questionable whether or not Bush would even visit China during his term, if it were not for the APEC forum being held in Shanghai.
China and the US have different ideologies and national interests but neither of them hesitates to exercise military power when necessary. The separation of politics and economics has become an inevitable trend. Other Asia-Pacific nations have limited capacities for influencing Sino-US relations, but often find themselves being used by the two powers as bargaining chips.
Lin Cheng-yi is director of the Institute of European and American Studies at the Academia Sinica.
Translated by Jackie Lin
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