US Democratic presidential hopeful Senator Barack Obama, in his first public foreign policy comment on cross-strait relations since entering the presidential fray, outlined a mainstream policy warning China against hostile military action against Taiwan while demanding that both sides retain the "status quo."
He made the remarks in a speech on the Senate floor on Wednesday regarding the visit by Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi (
While the bulk of his speech dealt with bilateral economic issues, Obama also made some general observations about overall US-China relations.
China's rise, he said, "offers great opportunity but also poses serious challenges."
Peaceful rising
While the US should welcome a peaceful rising China, he said, "at the same time, we must remain prepared to respond should China's rise take a problematic turn."
In this, Obama took a script from the underlying US policy toward cross-strait relations that has guided Washington's approach to the US-Taiwan-China triangle since the US recognized the People's Republic of China at the end of 1978.
In talking about responding to a "problematic turn," Obama said, "this means maintaining our military presence in the Asia-Pacific region, strengthening our alliances and making clear to both Beijing and Taipei that a unilateral change in the status quo in the Taiwan Strait is unacceptable."
"Also, though today China's military spending is one-tenth of ours, we must monitor closely China's strategic capabilities while also pushing for greater transparency of its defense activities," he said.
He added that the US "must remain vigilant in monitoring these potential developments."
But he also said that China and the US must "strive to build a relationship that broadens areas of cooperation," in such areas as weapons nonproliferation and North Korea.
First mention
Like other leading presidential contenders and would-be contenders from both the Democratic and Republican parties, Obama in previous foreign policy pronouncements has largely ignored China and has omitted references to Taiwan.
Instead, he has largely focused on such hot-button issues as Iraq and the Middle East, and on issues related to Africa.
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Obama's main competitor for the Democratic presidential ticket according to recent polls, has yet to make a speech on China and Taiwan since she declared her candidacy for president, said Coen Blaauw of the Formosan Association for Public Affairs.
However, Clinton has long been a critic of China's human-rights record, especially regarding treatment of women.
Her husband, former president Bill Clinton, is one of her main advisers, and it is widely believed that she will follow his general China policy, which tried to build cooperative relations with Beijing, and which led to a number of actions resented by many in Taiwan.
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