Sensitive discussions between US State Department officials and their North Korean and Chinese counterparts were behind the rather strong reaction the department issued in response to President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) "four wants" statement earlier this month, sources told the Taipei Times.
US officials felt that Chen's statement, coming at the time it did, could have undermined relations with China and Beijing's cooperation on the Korean nuclear weapons issue, which the US has studiously cultivated in recent years and which it sees as critical to the success of any agreements with Pyongyang.
At a dinner meeting of the Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA) on March 4, Chen made a pitch for Taiwan's independence, a change in the formal name of the nation to Taiwan and a new constitution.
The next day, US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack expressed the department's unhappiness with Chen's speech, citing Chen's "four noes" commitment in his 2000 inaugural address and saying that "rhetoric that can raise doubts about these commitments is unhelpful."
While McCormack did not go the extra step to personally criticize Chen, many observers felt his reaction was overly harsh. The department used the same term -- unhelpful -- in response to China's enactment of the so-called "Anti-Secession" Law in March 2005, and Taiwan supporters felt the use of the same term to describe the "four wants" went overboard.
Sources say the origin of the statement came from Clifford Hart, the director of the department's Office of Taiwan Coordination, who many Taiwan backers feel is not very friendly to the country.
The day after Chen's remarks, sources say, Hart went to see officials of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO), saying Chen's statement was "particularly unhelpful" in view of the latest developments in the North Korea nuclear issue.
That would mark the first time that the US had explicitly linked the North Korea crisis with Taiwan, although it has long been rumored that China has demanded that Washington lean on Chen as a quid pro quo for Beijing's cooperation on North Korea.
US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, who has spent virtually all of his time in recent years on the North Korean negotiations, was scheduled to fly to New York on March 5 for negotiations with North Korea's deputy foreign minister on talks envisioning eventual normalization of relations. Similar talks between Japan and North Korea were scheduled for later that week.
The State Department on Thursday refused to comment on whether Hart did make such comments to TECRO, saying it did not comment on the contents of any conversation with Taiwan's representatives.
Meanwhile, other sources say that Washington's concerns were focused on Beijing, where John Negroponte was on his first trip since being confirmed assistant secretary of state.
The day that Chen made his FAPA speech, China announced a nearly 18 percent jump in its annual military budget, which Negroponte had to deal with. At the same time, Negroponte had to fend off Chinese objections to a massive missile sale the US announced just before his trip.
That sale, which could be worth up to US$421 million, was the biggest arms sale the US had offered Taiwan in years. It included several hundred missiles that Taiwan could use during a Chinese military attack.
Beijing strongly objected to the sale, which still has to be approved by the US Congress and Taiwan's legislature, adding an additional issue to US-China relations when Washington was counting on Bei-jing's cooperation on North Korea.
US State Department officials have hung onto the 2000 "four noes," framing them as a personal commitment from Chen to US President George W. Bush, which would explain the administration's reaction to any statement it considers to be in contravention of the "four noes."
But North Korea has come to dominate the working of the department's East Asia and Pacific bureau, to the detriment of US-Taiwan relations, many people feel.
One source says the bureau has been taken over by the "Kimchee club," a reference to Hill's emphasis on North Korea as a policy issue.
Hill himself is reported to have said to Bush at one time that he was the "Deputy Secretary for North Korea," a description that did not make Bush happy, sources say.
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