During his first visit to Asia as US president, Barack Obama issued a joint statement with Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤). References to Taiwan in the statement suggest that the situation is evolving in a direction unfavorable to the country. In view of this, the government of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) should immediately seek clarification from Washington and try to remedy the situation.
There are several points to which Taiwan should pay attention. In his speeches in Japan, Obama did not mention Taiwan at all. At his “town hall” meeting in Shanghai, he only mentioned the three US-China joint communiques and avoided the issues of China’s military threat and US arms sales. At the press conference following his meeting with Hu, although he mentioned the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) in the same sentence as the three joint communiques, he also talked about respect for China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The joint statement itself makes no mention of the TRA, while the two countries’ respect for one another’s sovereignty and territorial integrity is stated twice, as well as a wish for the two sides of the Taiwan Strait to “increase dialogues and interactions in economic, political, and other fields.”
The TRA provides the legal basis for US policy on Taiwan. Section 4 of the Act states that, despite the absence of diplomatic relations between the US and Taiwan, “Whenever the laws of the United States refer or relate to foreign countries, nations, states, governments, or similar entities, such terms shall include and such laws shall apply with such respect to Taiwan.”
This amounts to regarding Taiwan as a de facto independent state. The six assurances delivered to president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) in 1982 by then-director of the American Institute in Taiwan James Lilley on behalf of US president Ronald Reagan included the point that the US had not altered its position regarding sovereignty over Taiwan, implying that it did not recognize China’s claim of sovereignty over Taiwan. These assurances, along with the TRA, are the most important foundations for the maintenance of Taiwan-US relations.
However, the Obama-Hu joint statement says: “China emphasized that the Taiwan issue concerns China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity ... [The US and China] reiterated that the fundamental principle of respect for each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity is at the core of the three US-China joint communiques which guide US-China relations. Neither side supports any attempts by any force to undermine this principle.”
The wording of the joint statement clearly departs from what is mandated by the TRA, as well as the spirit of Reagan’s six assurances. While Taiwan has in the past been viewed as a de facto sovereign independent state, the wording of the joint statement shows that its status is now being seriously challenged.
In view of this, it is very sad to see Ma happily claiming that Taiwan-US relations are better than they have been in 60 years and that mutual trust between the countries has been completely restored.
Besides, before the Obama-Hu talks, the Chinese side privately expressed the wish that the US would support dialogue across the Taiwan Strait. China wants US approval for the six points Hu proposed on the Taiwan issue on New Year’s Eve last year, which seek by hook or by crook to confine Taiwan within a “one China” framework. It wants to create an environment of cross-strait political consultation that would work in its own favor, and to reduce Taiwan’s maneuvering room.
Obviously this situation is not good for Taiwan.
The Obama-Hu talks have indeed been a big diplomatic victory for China. With regard to Taiwan, however, the Ma administration has accepted the idea of “one China.” At the same time, it is dismantling Taiwan’s strongest line of defense — its democracy. When so much has been given away, what grounds can we have for demanding that the US not accept China’s claim to sovereignty over Taiwan? Seemingly we are left with no choice but to swallow the bitter fruit of the Obama-Hu talks.
Joseph Wu is an adviser to the Taiwan Thinktank and a research fellow at the Institute of International Relations at National Chengchi University.
TRANSLATED BY JULIAN CLEGG
The image was oddly quiet. No speeches, no flags, no dramatic announcements — just a Chinese cargo ship cutting through arctic ice and arriving in Britain in October. The Istanbul Bridge completed a journey that once existed only in theory, shaving weeks off traditional shipping routes. On paper, it was a story about efficiency. In strategic terms, it was about timing. Much like politics, arriving early matters. Especially when the route, the rules and the traffic are still undefined. For years, global politics has trained us to watch the loud moments: warships in the Taiwan Strait, sanctions announced at news conferences, leaders trading
The saga of Sarah Dzafce, the disgraced former Miss Finland, is far more significant than a mere beauty pageant controversy. It serves as a potent and painful contemporary lesson in global cultural ethics and the absolute necessity of racial respect. Her public career was instantly pulverized not by a lapse in judgement, but by a deliberate act of racial hostility, the flames of which swiftly encircled the globe. The offensive action was simple, yet profoundly provocative: a 15-second video in which Dzafce performed the infamous “slanted eyes” gesture — a crude, historically loaded caricature of East Asian features used in Western
Is a new foreign partner for Taiwan emerging in the Middle East? Last week, Taiwanese media reported that Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) secretly visited Israel, a country with whom Taiwan has long shared unofficial relations but which has approached those relations cautiously. In the wake of China’s implicit but clear support for Hamas and Iran in the wake of the October 2023 assault on Israel, Jerusalem’s calculus may be changing. Both small countries facing literal existential threats, Israel and Taiwan have much to gain from closer ties. In his recent op-ed for the Washington Post, President William
A stabbing attack inside and near two busy Taipei MRT stations on Friday evening shocked the nation and made headlines in many foreign and local news media, as such indiscriminate attacks are rare in Taiwan. Four people died, including the 27-year-old suspect, and 11 people sustained injuries. At Taipei Main Station, the suspect threw smoke grenades near two exits and fatally stabbed one person who tried to stop him. He later made his way to Eslite Spectrum Nanxi department store near Zhongshan MRT Station, where he threw more smoke grenades and fatally stabbed a person on a scooter by the roadside.
RSS