Last month, Taiwan’s top Representative to the US Jason Yuan (袁健生) said during a question-and-answer session in the legislature that he thought it unlikely US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) would issue a fourth joint communique or even a joint statement during Hu’s visit to the US. Facts have now showed that either US officials do not trust Yuan, or that his judgment is questionable at best.
Not only did the two issue a joint statement, the statement dealt with issues relating to China’s “core interests,” a term that was used last year and is likely to have a big impact on Taiwan.
The US has long held that its Taiwan Strait policy is based on the three US-Sino communiques and the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA), but this situation is gradually changing as President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) continues to push his policy of goodwill toward China.
When Obama visited China in 2009, the two sides signed a joint statement which stated that territorial integrity was a Chinese core interest. That was seen as a heavy blow to the cross-strait “status quo,” but the Ma administration did not protest. This tacit acceptance of the phrase “core interests” and the repeated affirmation of its use is gradually resulting in the formalization of the phrase. Hu then dealt another blow in a speech at the National Committee on US-China Relations when he said that Taiwan, Tibet and China’s territorial integrity were China’s core interests, thus clarifying what the phrase really means.
The joint statement said the US would adhere to its “one China” policy, but failed to mention the TRA, which was only touched on verbally by Obama.
As the phrase “core interests” is being gradually formalized, one wonders whether leaving the TRA out of written statements will also become quietly formalized. This is something that requires further observation. A while back, US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said in light of the readjustment of cross-strait relations, the US would re-evaluate its arms sales policy to Taiwan.
These are two major changes, but the US still has not reiterated former president Ronald Reagan’s six points from 1982. This implies that small changes are gradually being made to the US’ Taiwan policy as a result of the Ma administration’s pro-China stance. In the short term, these changes may not seem very big and the US will continue to interpret the meaning of “one China” the way it sees fit.
However, the policy changes set in motion by the Ma administration’s pro-China policies are gradually and quietly being accepted by the US, China and Taiwan. The US-Sino communique issued on Aug. 17, 1982, had a major impact on the cross-strait “status quo” and it was only after strong protests from Taiwan that Reagan issued his six guarantees.
Faced with these very real dangers, the Ma administration must demand that the US reiterates the six points. The cross-strait “status quo” is changing constantly. If the Ministry of Foreign Affairs continues to view this situation as a diplomatic truce, I am afraid that by the time things start to go wrong, China will already have the situation fully under control.
Lee Tuo-tzu is deputy chief of staff for Legislator Chen Ming-wen.
TRANSLATED BY PERRY SVENSSON
A series of strong earthquakes in Hualien County not only caused severe damage in Taiwan, but also revealed that China’s power has permeated everywhere. A Taiwanese woman posted on the Internet that she found clips of the earthquake — which were recorded by the security camera in her home — on the Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu. It is spine-chilling that the problem might be because the security camera was manufactured in China. China has widely collected information, infringed upon public privacy and raised information security threats through various social media platforms, as well as telecommunication and security equipment. Several former TikTok employees revealed
For the incoming Administration of President-elect William Lai (賴清德), successfully deterring a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) attack or invasion of democratic Taiwan over his four-year term would be a clear victory. But it could also be a curse, because during those four years the CCP’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) will grow far stronger. As such, increased vigilance in Washington and Taipei will be needed to ensure that already multiplying CCP threat trends don’t overwhelm Taiwan, the United States, and their democratic allies. One CCP attempt to overwhelm was announced on April 19, 2024, namely that the PLA had erred in combining major missions
The Constitutional Court on Tuesday last week held a debate over the constitutionality of the death penalty. The issue of the retention or abolition of the death penalty often involves the conceptual aspects of social values and even religious philosophies. As it is written in The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay, the government’s policy is often a choice between the lesser of two evils or the greater of two goods, and it is impossible to be perfect. Today’s controversy over the retention or abolition of the death penalty can be viewed in the same way. UNACCEPTABLE Viewing the
At the same time as more than 30 military aircraft were detected near Taiwan — one of the highest daily incursions this year — with some flying as close as 37 nautical miles (69kms) from the northern city of Keelung, China announced a limited and selected relaxation of restrictions on Taiwanese agricultural exports and tourism, upon receiving a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) delegation led by KMT legislative caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅崑萁). This demonstrates the two-faced gimmick of China’s “united front” strategy. Despite the strongest earthquake to hit the nation in 25 years striking Hualien on April 3, which caused