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Schriver's assurances raise some questions

The controversy over Taiwan's UN bid caused US National Security Council senior director for East Asian affairs Dennis Wilder to say in late August that "Taiwan, or the Republic of China [ROC], is not at this point a state in the international community."

Conversely, Washington also said it did not accept the UN's view that Taiwan is a part of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Both moves created quite a stir.

But the claim made by some political commentators in Taiwan that this marked the first time the US had objected to the claim that Taiwan is part of the PRC is a misleading one.

Even after the US severed diplomatic ties with Taipei, the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) underscored Washington's denial of the PRC's claim. Former US president Ronald Reagan's "Six Assurances," delivered in person by US representative to Taiwan James Lilly to president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) on July 14, 1982, before the signing of the US-PRC Joint Communique on Arms Sales, clearly stated that the US does not support Chinese claims of sovereignty over Taiwan.

On Oct. 3, the Heritage Foundation, a US-based conservative think tank, held a seminar in Washington titled "President Reagan's Six Assurances to Taiwan and their Meaning Today." Former Control Yuan president Fredrick Chien (錢復) -- who was deputy foreign minister when the assurances were delivered -- attended the event and confirmed the delivery. Chien, however, believes former US deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Randall Schriver's recent proposal of six new assurances ("Taiwan needs `six new assurances,'" Aug. 22, page 8) fit current needs better.

Sources say that former US deputy assistant secretary of defense for Asia and the Pacific Kurt Campbell and former American Institute in Taiwan chairman Richard Bush also support Schriver's proposal.

In his article, Schriver points out that calls from Taiwanese officials for Washington to reaffirm its six assurances are not very useful as the situation has changed drastically in the last 25 years. Over the past three years in particular, "trust between the US and Taiwan has weakened. Thus, there is a need today for a strong, clear statement from a senior US official that will move us toward genuine reassurance," Schriver wrote.

Schriver's six assurances no longer refer to the issue of US arms sales to Taiwan.

Assurances that remain from the past include the position that the US would not pressure Taiwan to enter into negotiations with the PRC and that the US will always honor the TRA. Some relatively fresh points include the fifth assurance, which stipulates that "Under no circumstances will the US seek to curry favor with China by making sacrifices in its relationship with Taiwan ... The US will not agree to `co-manage' the issue of Taiwan with the PRC" and the sixth assurance, which says that "The US will seek to promote opportunities for Taiwan to participate meaningfully in international organizations."

The fourth assurance, however, is confusing, as it states that "The US will not formally recognize the PRC's sovereignty over Taiwan."

Does this mean Washington would grant informal recognition to PRC sovereignty over Taiwan? The same assurance also states that "Issues related to the sovereignty of Taiwan are for the people of the PRC and the people of Taiwan to decide peacefully themselves."

Although Schriver's intentions are good, his fourth assurance seems to be a major step backward.

Chen Yi-shen is an associate research fellow at Academia Sinica's Institute of Modern History.

Translated by Eddy Chang
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