When will the US wage war on Iraq? How will the US handle the nuclear crisis in North Korea? How will the US attempt to seek China's cooperation affect US-Taiwan relations? After attending the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, Taiwan's delegation and I discussed these questions and related issues with US officials, members of Congress and think-tank experts.
After the Sept. 11 attacks, observers have noticed the improvements in Sino-US relations. For example, US President George W. Bush have held three summit meetings with Chinese President Jiang Zemin (江澤民).
However, the improvements do not indicate that the Sino-US cooperation is without interruption. Nor have the two countries gradually become "strategic partners." Although China verbally supports the US in the war against terrorism, some US officials have privately complained that Beijing only makes empty promises. They said that the application of China's intelligence information on terrorists is limited and that China's help is not comparable to that of Taiwan.
The US has advocated a second UN resolution to authorize military action and disarm Iraq's WMD. China, France and Russia have altogether expressed an opposing view, however. They stand for the extension of weapons inspections. Bush even called and solicited the support of Jiang for a second UN resolution that authorizes military action against Iraq. To date, Beijing still has not showed signs of support for the US proposal.
On the issue of nuclear weapons in North Korea, China initially expressed its will to arrange bilateral talks between the US and North Korea. Other than that, China has not used its influence to exhort North Korea not to continue with the development of nuclear weapons. As a result, Bush called and reminded Jiang of the two countries' common responsibility to keep a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula. Bush also asked China to actively advise North Korea.
China, however, keeps shadow boxing around. It has only asked the US to continue seeking bilateral talks using diplomatic means. It is clear that the US and China have different interests and strategies on the issue of how to stop North Korea from developing nuclear weapons. The US insists on the principle of non-proliferation. The US argues that North Korea must stop developing nuclear weapons, remove the Pu-239 (a nuclear raw material) facilities at Yongbyon, and accept investigations by international inspectors. The US said the use of military force to achieve these objectives will not be ruled out.
China's interests are drastically different from those of the US. It sees North Korea as a buffer state and neither wants the North Korean regime to collapse nor supports the unification of North and South Koreas. In recent years China has supported the tottering North Korean regime, providing food provisions, oil, strategic supplies and economic aid. It believes the stability of the Korean Peninsula prevails over everything else. Although China is not happy with North Korea's development of nuclear weapons, it is not willing to resort to high-handed measures so as to force North Korea to give in. Washington officials and members of
Congress privately expressed that they are impatient with and disappointed in China's inability or unwillingness to help with the North Korean problem. They believe it is impossible for the US and China to become real strategic partners due to the difference of interests. Some Americans, Japanese and South Koreans used to assume that Beijing has influence on North Korea, but Beijing's actions really make their assumption questionable.
Parris Chang is a DPP legislator.
Translated by Grace Shaw
Congressman Mike Gallagher (R-WI) and Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) led a bipartisan delegation to Taiwan in late February. During their various meetings with Taiwan’s leaders, this delegation never missed an opportunity to emphasize the strength of their cross-party consensus on issues relating to Taiwan and China. Gallagher and Krishnamoorthi are leaders of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party. Their instruction upon taking the reins of the committee was to preserve China issues as a last bastion of bipartisanship in an otherwise deeply divided Washington. They have largely upheld their pledge. But in doing so, they have performed the
It is well known that Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) ambition is to rejuvenate the Chinese nation by unification of Taiwan, either peacefully or by force. The peaceful option has virtually gone out of the window with the last presidential elections in Taiwan. Taiwanese, especially the youth, are resolved not to be part of China. With time, this resolve has grown politically stronger. It leaves China with reunification by force as the default option. Everyone tells me how and when mighty China would invade and overpower tiny Taiwan. However, I have rarely been told that Taiwan could be defended to
It should have been Maestro’s night. It is hard to envision a film more Oscar-friendly than Bradley Cooper’s exploration of the life and loves of famed conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein. It was a prestige biopic, a longtime route to acting trophies and more (see Darkest Hour, Lincoln, and Milk). The film was a music biopic, a subgenre with an even richer history of award-winning films such as Ray, Walk the Line and Bohemian Rhapsody. What is more, it was the passion project of cowriter, producer, director and actor Bradley Cooper. That is the kind of multitasking -for-his-art overachievement that Oscar
Chinese villages are being built in the disputed zone between Bhutan and China. Last month, Chinese settlers, holding photographs of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), moved into their new homes on land that was not Xi’s to give. These residents are part of the Chinese government’s resettlement program, relocating Tibetan families into the territory China claims. China shares land borders with 15 countries and sea borders with eight, and is involved in many disputes. Land disputes include the ones with Bhutan (Doklam plateau), India (Arunachal Pradesh, Aksai Chin) and Nepal (near Dolakha and Solukhumbu districts). Maritime disputes in the South China