The US Department of Defense has revised articles carried by its official news service that made reference to Taiwan after complaints from Taiwanese officials in Washington.
The officials objected to references contained in articles released by the Armed Forces Press Service on Saturday and Sunday about US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates' trip to China, where he discussed a wide range of bilateral and regional issues, including China's breakneck military expansion and Taiwan.
On Monday, the press service eliminated the offending references from the articles on its Web site and the Pentagon's spokesman for East Asian affairs, Major Stewart Upton, conceded that the original references were "inaccurate."
This was after the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had instructed Taiwanese Representative to the US Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) to ask for "clarification" on the articles.
"The first thing in the morning [on Monday], on instructions from Taipei, we [got] in touch with the Pentagon, the State Department and some of the relevant government agencies," Deputy Representative Stanley Kao (
"Very quickly we got the response from the American authorities that the US cross-strait policy remains unchanged," Kao said.
"So, quickly the Pentagon made the correction. We are appreciative of this response, the quick rectification of the US position," he said.
"We will continue to [ensure] that people involved in news releases, without looking into the nuances, the subtlety of this very sensitive cross-strait issue, no longer make any mistakes that cause misunderstanding or uneasiness," Kao said.
"We are satisfied with the corrections. Hopefully, that is the end of the story," he said.
Gates arrived in Beijing on Sunday for two days of talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao (
In an article on Saturday previewing Gates' trip, press service reporter Jim Garamone described US policy on cross-strait relations as "a sincere desire to see reunification done in a peaceful manner." Garamone also referred to the government's planned referendum on joining the UN under the name "Taiwan" as an "independence referendum."
The next day, another Garamone article said the US was "against independence for the island nation."
Those three references were removed from the articles on Monday. The article released on Sunday carried this editor's note: "This article was modified from the form in which it was originally published to correct our coverage." Saturday's archived article contained no such note.
The revised articles say only that: "The Chinese are concerned about the up-coming referendum in Taiwan which the United States also opposes."
They no longer contain any reference to "independence."
US policy is now described as "a sincere desire to see the Taiwan issue resolved in a peaceful manner." The word "reunification" is not mentioned.
Sunday's article says merely that "The US delegation expects the Chinese to also bring up Taiwan."
Upton said US policy on Taiwan is "consistent and clear."
"The United States remains committed to a peaceful resolution in a manner acceptable to the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, the United States opposes unilateral change, by either side, to the `status quo,'" he said.
"The US has an abiding interest that any resolution of the cross-strait situation be peaceful. The United States would view any use of force against Taiwan with grave concern and remains committed to meet its obligations under the Taiwan Relations Act," Upton said.
While US officials have long said they "do not support" Taiwan's independence, they have never publicly said they "oppose" or "are against" it.
Meanwhile, Gates declined to say anything about Taiwan during a press conference with Chinese Minister of Defense Cao Gangchuan (曹剛川) after their meeting in Beijing on Monday.
The Pentagon made a transcript available in Washington.
Asked about US views on China's military buildup, including US expectations of a Chinese response if Washington came to Taiwan's defense in a war, Gates spoke mainly about the value of greater military dialogue.
Cao, however, delivered a lengthy warning against the possibility of Taiwan's independence.
"The Chinese government will act in accordance with the `Anti-Secession' Law to take any necessary actions to maintain the unification of the country and safeguard peace and stability in the Taiwan Straits [sic]," he said.
The "Anti-Secession" Law, passed in 2005, commits Beijing to military action to prevent Taiwan's independence.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs Deputy Spokeswoman Phoebe Yeh (葉非比) told a press conference in Taipei yesterday that the US had clarified the "inaccuracies" contained in its articles.
"The US addressed the three points [of contention] in its articles one by one, saying that they [didn't accurately reflect] the official US position on Taiwan policy," Yeh said.
"We came to understand that US government departments, other than the State Department, are not very familiar with cross-strait issues. We have to enhance communication with them," she said.
Additional reporting by Shih Hsiu-chuan
NO LIVERPOOL TRIP: Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, who won a gold medal in the boxing at the Paris Olympics, was embroiled in controversy about her gender at that event Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting (林郁婷) will not attend this year’s World Boxing Championships in Liverpool, England, due to a lack of response regarding her sex tests from the organizer, World Boxing. The national boxing association on Monday said that it had submitted all required tests to World Boxing, but had not received a response as of Monday, the departure day for the championships. It said the decision for Lin to skip the championships was made to protect its athletes, ensuring they would not travel to the UK without a guarantee of participation. Lin, who won a gold medal in the women’s 57kg boxing
RESPONSE: The transit sends a message that China’s alignment with other countries would not deter the West from defending freedom of navigation, an academic said Canadian frigate the Ville de Quebec and Australian guided-missile destroyer the Brisbane transited the Taiwan Strait yesterday morning, the first time the two nations have conducted a joint freedom of navigation operation. The Canadian and Australian militaries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Ministry of National Defense declined to confirm the passage, saying only that Taiwan’s armed forces had deployed surveillance and reconnaissance assets, along with warships and combat aircraft, to safeguard security across the Strait. The two vessels were observed transiting northward along the eastern side of the Taiwan Strait’s median line, with Japan being their most likely destination,
‘NOT ALONE’: A Taiwan Strait war would disrupt global trade routes, and could spark a worldwide crisis, so a powerful US presence is needed as a deterrence, a US senator said US Senator Deb Fischer on Thursday urged her colleagues in the US Congress to deepen Washington’s cooperation with Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific partners to contain the global security threat from China. Fischer and other lawmakers recently returned from an official trip to the Indo-Pacific region, where they toured US military bases in Hawaii and Guam, and visited leaders, including President William Lai (賴清德). The trip underscored the reality that the world is undergoing turmoil, and maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific region is crucial to the security interests of the US and its partners, she said. Her visit to Taiwan demonstrated ways the
The US has revoked Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) authorization to freely ship essential gear to its main Chinese chipmaking base, potentially curtailing its production capabilities at that older-generation facility. American officials recently informed TSMC of their decision to end the Taiwanese chipmaker’s so-called validated end user (VEU) status for its Nanjing site. The action mirrors steps the US took to revoke VEU designations for China facilities owned by Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc. The waivers are set to expire in about four months. “TSMC has received notification from the US Government that our VEU authorization for TSMC Nanjing
RSS