Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday expressed regret over US President Barack Obama’s remarks that “the US respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of China.”
“[The remarks] did not clarify the fact that Taiwan does not belong to China and disregarded the fact that the 23 million Taiwanese are under threat from the 1,400-odd missiles [deployed] by China. The result is regrettable,” Tsai said in a statement.
Tsai’s remarks came after the US and China issued a joint statement in which Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) underscored the importance of the Taiwan issue in US-China relations.
Beijing emphasized that the Taiwan issue concerns China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. It said it hoped the US would honor its commitments and appreciate and support the Chinese side’s position on the matter.
The US said that it follows a “one China” policy and abides by the principles of the three US-China joint communiques. The US said it welcomes the peaceful development of relations across the Taiwan Strait and looks forward to efforts by both sides to increase dialogue and interactions in economic, political and other fields, as well as develop more positive and stable cross-strait relations.
The two countries reiterated that the fundamental principle of respect for each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity were at the core of the three US-China communiques that guide US-China relations. Neither side supports any attempts by any force to undermine this principle. The two sides also agreed that respecting each other’s core interests was important to ensure steady progress in US-China relations.
While the statement did not mention the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA), Obama mentioned it in his statement to a press conference.
Saying that Obama’s mention of the TRA would help improve cross-strait relations and stability in the region, Tsai called on the US government to continue to provide Taiwan with the defensive weapons it needs to ensure its national security in accordance with the spirit of the TRA.
“Taiwan is a sovereign and independent country. This is an undeniable fact,” Tsai said.
Tsai said the DPP was happy to see the US and China establish healthy and cooperative relations and make efforts to ensure prosperity and stability in the region, especially in terms of the economy and trade, climate change, energy, human rights and religious freedom.
“[The DPP] hopes that China’s human rights record and position on religious freedom will improve and that China will renounce the use of force against Taiwan to bring real peace and stability in the region,” she said.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday downplayed the omission of the TRA in the written statement and praised Obama for mentioning it during his conference with Hu.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) spokesman Lee Chien-jung (李建榮) said that although the TRA was not mentioned in the joint statement, Obama brought it up “right in Hu’s face.”
“This was the first time a US president mentioned the TRA over the past six years,” Lee quoted Ma as saying. “As the US and Chinese mainland develop their relationship, we don’t want to be a stumbling block, nor do we worry the US will sell us out because the triangle relationship between the mainland, Taiwan and the US is at its optimum stage in the past 60 years.”
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