US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has cautioned Taiwan not to try to take advantage of China's hosting of the Olympic Games in Beijing next summer to move toward formal independence.
But at the same time, she warned China that Washington would fulfill its military obligations should China take hostile action against Taiwan, as some experts in Washington feel Beijing might do after the Olympics are over.
Rice made the comments in response to a question after delivering a speech at an event honoring a State Department journalism program.
Asked about next year's confluence of the Olympics and presidential elections in the US and Taiwan, Rice reiterated the US "one China" policy, saying that "we do not expect anyone to try to make unilateral changes."
"We expect that China will not try to change that circumstance, and we expect that Taiwan will not try, through a unilateral declaration or a unilateral movement toward independence, to change that policy," she said.
Reaffirmed
Rice reaffirmed Washington's intention to come to Taiwan's assistance in the event of Chinese military action.
"We have the obligations under the Taiwan Relations Act to help Taiwan defend itself, and we will carry out those obligations through the military cooperation that we have with Taiwan," she said.
Rice also called for cross-strait dialogue and other interaction and asserted that the volume of trade and economic development across the strait "is also a buffer against conflict."
"It is my strong view that this should not and will not change as a result of 2008 because it's been a standing policy of the United States for many, many years," Rice said.
"The United States has to be a just [and] very upright anchor in the situation between Taiwan and the PRC," she added.
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