The US and China are discussing ways for Taiwan to increase its exposure and influence in the world by joining more international institutions and organizations, Washington sources said.
Among the groups being considered are the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), sources said.
The issue is expected to be raised in talks between US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) when they meet in Washington next month.
US Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg confirmed the development on Tuesday when he addressed the Center for American Progress on “The Future of the US-China Relationship.”
“We are encouraged by the positive steps that have been taken by Taipei and Beijing and urge them to continue to take steps that will build trust and contribute to stability,” he said.
“There has been important progress on the economic front and we want to see further progress in the future,” Steinberg said.
Asked to elaborate, he said: “We were very encouraged by China’s decision to support Taiwan’s participation as an observer at the World Health Assembly [the WHO’s decision-making body] and there are other opportunities for the two to work together in places where the membership is not based on being a sovereign state.”
“We have discussed with China some of the particular institutions and organizations,” he said.
“For example, on climate change, there is an opportunity for Taiwan to play a constructive role. It would be in the interests of all of us to have Taiwan engaged in some particular format. There are a broad range of areas in which there is opportunity for dialogue and progress in the relationship,” Steinberg said.
China generally blocks Taiwan’s attempts to gain international space, but the Washington sources said that in private discussions Beijing has recently shown some flexibility.
Earlier, Steinberg emphasized the importance of maintaining “transparency” in US-China military relations and avoiding the danger “that our militaries will become rivals.”
He said it was imperative to ensure that the military-to-military dialogue was sustainable and that it was not threatened by periods of disagreement, when the need for dialogue was all the more important.
“The ‘one China’ policy remains an important part of our overall approach to our engagement with China, based on the three joint communiques and the Taiwan Relations Act,” Steinberg said. “Our policy is aimed at promoting stability and dialogue across the Straits [sic]. We continue to believe that appropriate defensive arms sales to Taiwan give Taiwan the confidence to engage the mainland and we are encouraged by the positive steps that have been taken by Taipei and Beijing and urge them to continue to take steps that will build trust and contribute to stability.”
He said the US was working hard to strengthen other aspects of security cooperation with China, particularly in some of the non-traditional areas, such as counterterrorism, tackling piracy and law enforcement.
In related news, the Bureau of Public Affairs at the US State Department said in a statement on Tuesday that Steinberg would lead a delegation to Asia from next Tuesday through Friday.
The delegation, consisting of US National Security Council Senior Director for Asian Affairs Jeffrey Bader, US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell and US Special Envoy Sung Kim, will leave Washington for Beijing next Tuesday, where they are scheduled to meet senior officials to continue consultations with the Chinese on regional security issues.
Steinberg and Bader will return to Washington on Dec. 17, while Campbell will travel to Tokyo on Dec. 16. Kim will travel to Seoul on Dec. 16, with both Campbell and Kim returning to Washington on Dec. 17, the statement said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY STAFF WRITER
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
Taiwan yesterday denied Chinese allegations that its military was behind a cyberattack on a technology company in Guangzhou, after city authorities issued warrants for 20 suspects. The Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau earlier yesterday issued warrants for 20 people it identified as members of the Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM). The bureau alleged they were behind a May 20 cyberattack targeting the backend system of a self-service facility at the company. “ICEFCOM, under Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, directed the illegal attack,” the warrant says. The bureau placed a bounty of 10,000 yuan (US$1,392) on each of the 20 people named in
The High Court yesterday found a New Taipei City woman guilty of charges related to helping Beijing secure surrender agreements from military service members. Lee Huei-hsin (李慧馨) was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for breaching the National Security Act (國家安全法), making illegal compacts with government employees and bribery, the court said. The verdict is final. Lee, the manager of a temple in the city’s Lujhou District (蘆洲), was accused of arranging for eight service members to make surrender pledges to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in exchange for money, the court said. The pledges, which required them to provide identification
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the
RSS