The US heaped praised on President Chen Shui-bian's(
The US Department of State, responding Wednesday to Chen's statement he made at the conclusion of a national security meeting, described Chen's peace initiative as "positive and constructive."
The department also reiterated Washington's commitment to the so-called "Six Assurances," which former president Ronald Reagan formulated in response to the August 1982 "Third Communique" between Washington and Beijing, in which Reagan pledged the US would reduce arms sales to Taiwan.
The department's response came amid some concerns in Washington that the Bush administration was rethinking the Six Assurances with an eye on weakening the US commitment to them, as part of the price for enhanced cooperation with China on a number of international issues, including Iraq and the war on terror.
"There is no change in US policy, including regarding the six assurances," the State Department said in a formal answer to a question raised during department spokesman Richard Boucher's daily press briefing.
The Six Assurances are that the US will not: set a date for termination of arms sales to Taiwan; alter the terms of the Taiwan Relations Act; consult with China in advance before making decisions about US arms sales to Taiwan; mediate between Taiwan and China; alter its position about the sovereignty of Taiwan, which was that the question was one to be decided peacefully by the Chinese themselves, or pressure Taiwan to enter into negotiations with China; or formally recognize Chinese sovereignty over Taiwan.
Regarding Chen's idea of setting up a buffer zone in the Taiwan Strait and re-engaging in dialogue on the basis of the 1992 Hong Kong formula, the State Department had this to say:
"We welcome the positive and constructive points in Chen Shui-bian's speech. We believe it lays the foundation for progress and offers some creative ideas for reducing tensions and resuming the cross-strait dialogue. We wish both sides take this opportunity to engage in dialogue in order to resolve their differences peacefully."
Overall, the department said that Washington's policy toward Taiwan "remains the same."
Chen's statement, and the US response, comes on the heels of two reported telephone conversations between President George W. Bush and Chinese President Hu Jintao (
It also comes as Bush and Hu are preparing to hold their first face-to-face meeting since the US election, when the two attend the meeting of the APEC forum in Santiago, Chile later this month.
Taiwan was a major topic of conversation during the post-election phone conversations, both the White House and official Chinese mouthpieces have said.
Beijing has also indicated that Taiwan will be a key topic during the Chile APEC summit.
China's media has expressed confidence that Bush will take an even closer stance toward China during his second term than he did over the past year, when he courted China's aid in the war on terror, advancing dialogue with North Korea and in the US-led war in Iraq.
The White House has rebuffed such suggestions.
A subsidiary of a Hong Kong-based company that has lost control of two critical ports on the Panama Canal said it is seeking US$2 billion of compensation in damages from Panama over its “illegal” takeover of the ports. Panama Ports Co, a unit of Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison Holdings (長江和記實業), on Friday said in a statement that it is demanding the sum under international arbitration proceedings that it had already started. The Panamanian government last week seized control of the Balboa and Cristobal ports on each end of the Panama Canal, after the country’s Supreme Court declared earlier that a concession allowing
DETERRENCE: With 1,000 indigenous Hsiung Feng II and III missiles and 400 Harpoon missiles, the nation would boast the highest anti-ship missile density in the world With Taiwan wrapping up mass production of Hsiung Feng II and III missiles by December and an influx of Harpoon missiles from the US, Taiwan would have the highest density of anti-ship missiles in the world, a source said yesterday. Taiwan is to wrap up mass production of the indigenous anti-ship missiles by the end of year, as the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology has been meeting production targets ahead of schedule, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said. Combined with the 400 Harpoon anti-ship missiles Taiwan expects to receive from the US by 2028, the nation would have
POSSIBILITIES EMERGE: With Taiwan’s victory and Japan’s narrow win over Australia, Taiwan now have a chance to advance if South Korea also beat the Aussies Taiwan has high hopes that the national baseball team would advance to the World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarter-finals after clinching a crucial 5-4 victory over South Korea in a nail-biting extra-inning game at the Tokyo Dome yesterday. Boosted by three home runs — two solo shots by Yu Chang (張育成) and Cheng Tsung-che (鄭宗哲) and a two-run homer by Stuart Fairchild — the triumph gave Taiwan a much-needed second victory in the five-team Pool C, where only the top two finishers would advance to the knockout stage in Miami, Florida. Entering extra innings with the game tied at four apiece, Taiwan scored
MISSION OF PEACE: The foreign minister urged Beijing to respect Taiwan’s existence as an independent nation, and work together to ensure peace and stability in the region Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday rejected Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi’s (王毅) comments about Taiwan, criticizing China as a “troublemaker” in the international community and a disruptor of cross-strait peace. Speaking at a news conference on the sidelines of the Chinese National People’s Congress, Wang said that Taiwan has always been a territory of China and that it would be impossible for it to become its own country. The “return” of Taiwan to China was the natural outcome of the Chinese people’s resistance against Japan in World War II, and that any pursuit of independence was “doomed
RSS