US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Monday sent what some Washington observers saw as a clear message to Taiwan, as she issued a statement recognizing Kosovo's independence from Serbia and saying that the move did not set a precedent for other territories seeking independence.
In announcing Washington's formal recognition of Kosovo's independence and the establishment of diplomatic relations, Rice made a point of saying the Kosovo situation was unique.
Citing the "unusual combination of factors" leading up to Kosovo's declaration of independence, Rice said those factors "are not found elsewhere and therefore make Kosovo a special case. Kosovo cannot be seen as a precedent for any other situation in the world today."
She cited the breakup of the former Yugoslavia, the history of ethnic cleansing and "crimes against civilians" in Kosovo as special factors.
Specialists in US-Taiwan-China relations immediately saw a reference to Taiwan in Rice's Kosovo statement.
Member of the Bush administration "seem to be going out of their way to send a signal that just because the United States is recognizing the independence of Kosovo, they won't recognize the independence of Taiwan," said Stephen Yates, president of the consulting firm D.C. Asia Advisory and a former Asia specialist in the office of Vice President Dick Cheney.
"I don't know what other piece of the map there is left, besides Taiwan, that the precedent would apply to," he said.
"I think she had China in mind," said Michael Fonte, a consultant for the Democratic Progressive Party in Washington. "In part of her mind I'm sure [Taiwan] was [a factor] ... I think in the front of Condi's mind was assuaging the Chinese that there were no larger implications of this than that specific historical situation."
"She had Taiwan in mind given the current issues over the referendum" on Taiwan's entry into the UN, he said, adding that she probably also had movements in Tibet and Xinjiang in mind.
Yates said he suspects that Washington may have communicated to Taipei its position on Kosovo beforehand.
"The Chinese have been demarching everybody. That had to include the US. And I would expect that probably would have lead to a conversation from the US to Taipei about the US position on this, and that it doesn't apply to Taiwan," Yates said.
University of Miami professor June Dreyer, a former member of the US-China Security and Economic Review Commission, said that Rice's statement was broader than Taiwan.
"She may have had Taiwan in mind, but ... I think uppermost was Chechnya" and the forces there seeking independence from Russia, with whom China wants to have good relations, Dreyer said.
"She does not want the press to start speculating about whether this means the United States is going to support independence for A, B or C. Sure it applies to Taiwan, but I bet she was thinking of Chechnya," she said.
Yates said that China had weighed in heavily with Russia in opposing independence for the Kosovars.
"So the administration's willingness to go forward and make a very positive statement" praising Kosovo independence "I guess was a bit upsetting to Beijing," Yates said.
It may have been one of the reasons Rice inserted in her statement on Kosovo's independence what Yates called the "combination of factors" paragraph.
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