The White House has insisted that President Bush did not mean to change long-term American policy toward Taiwan in comments to a morning television show that seemed to indicate he would approve US military intervention against China if the mainland attacked Taiwan.
Administration officials tried to finesse Bush's comments without suggesting that he may have simply misspoken.
"This is not a change in US policy," an administration official told the Taipei Times Wednesday.
"As the US has been since 1979, we are committed to helping Taiwan defend herself. What [Bush] said today is consistent with what he said throughout the campaign, and what he said yesterday and today is entirely consistent with the Taiwan Relations Act," the official said.
"We are not encouraging Taiwan independence. We continue to support a `one-China' policy. But we're also making it clear that the Chinese arms buildup facing Taiwan should not be used to intimidate Taiwan," he said.
On ABC's morning television show Good Morning America aired Wednesday, Bush was asked if in the face of an attack, the US would have an obligation to defend the Taiwanese "with the full force of American military?"
The president answered, "whatever it took to help Taiwan defend herself."
"That is not a direct answer saying `yes,' and it's not a direct answer saying `no,'" the official told the Taipei Times.
In fact, that was just one way in which Bush answered the same or similar questions that he was asked in more than a half-dozen media interviews Tuesday and Wednesday assessing his first 100 days in office.
He told the Associated Press that the use of US military force is "certainly an option ... the Chinese have got to understand that it is clearly an option."
To Reuters he said the US would stand "steadfast" in back of Taiwan, adding that people "can surmise what they want to."
In a CNN interview, he said "I would do what it takes to help Taiwan defend herself."
"It is important to note," the US administration official said, "that President Bush as well as previous presidents have stood for the peaceful resolution of differences between China and Taiwan. Our message to China is clear: that any differences with Taiwan have to be resolved peacefully, and not by resorting to force."
Analysts and others in Washington were not certain how to react to Bush's ABC interview.
At a House committee hearing on US-China relations, David Schambaugh, the director of George Washington University's China policy program, said he did not see the show.
"But [Bush has] wrestled with this phraseology about Taiwan's defense through the campaign," he said in testimony to the committee. "I've studied it. And he has in the past confused the phrases `Taiwan self-defense' with `defending Taiwan.'"
"But if he indeed does believe that the US should `do whatever it takes' to defend Taiwan, this is a marked departure from six previous administrations. It's obviously a marked departure from strategic ambiguity. It's a marked departure from Taiwan Relations Act language, which speaks of assisting in Taiwan's own self-defense. And it would de facto reconstitute the mutual security treaty that was severed when Washington established relations with Beijing in 1978," he said.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique