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Mon, Dec 18, 2000 - Page 3　News List

US likely to walk similar Taiwan Strait line

Ttorkel Patterson, a candidate tipped to become deputy secretary of defense in George W. Bush's administration, says the US' role in cross-strait relations won't undergo any drastic changes during his tenure. Still, Patterson echoes Bush's oft-repeated line that China is a `competitor' of the US, not a `strategic partner.' the US Navy-educated military analyst formerly served in the National Security Council and the Pentagon as well as working at Raytheon, the third largest defense contractor in the US. patterson spoke with `Taipei Times' reporter Monique Chu last friday.

By Monique Chu  /  STAFF REPORTER

Patterson: A lot of American "track two" efforts were led by those who were trying to help the Chinese worldview. But why should we necessarily help the Chinese worldview? From America's standpoint, we should help the American worldview.

For the cross-strait talks to start, I think you have to have a consensus on why you want to do this. Is your goal unification with China? Is that really the goal? That is some newspapers' goal. Some newspapers that do not represent the majority of the Taiwanese people have unification as their goal. But what do the majority of the Taiwanese people want?

When it's not clear what's the purpose of having talks, why do we get upset when there is no progress on that?

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