US Senator Max Baucus on Tuesday asked the US government to revise its current policy on high-level visits to the US by Taiwanese officials and reverse the "three no's" put forth by former president Bill Clinton in 1997.
As a moderate Democrat, Baucus has in the past been seen as a close ally of the Clinton administration in promoting to Capitol Hill its engagement policy with China, actively lobbying in support of granting China permanent normal trade relations last year.
But the senator played a different tune on Tuesday in a luncheon speech at the Nixon Center, delivering a strong message calling for policy change.
Baucus said that he still supported the Three Communiques and the Taiwan Relations Act, but said that this system should adapt and evolve. He also expressed concerns over China's military buildup and advocated a return to the Clinton administration's 1994 policy review, which concluded that the US would support Taiwan's membership in organizations where statehood was not a prerequisite.
Baucus noted that when Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), the first president of Taiwan representing a party other than the KMT, stopped over in Los Angeles on his way to Central America last August, the Clinton administration strongly recommended that he not meet with a dozen members of Congress who had planned to attend a reception in his honor.
"Something is wrong with this picture," declared Baucus.
He criticized the current US policy as "absurd," and said he believed that the US should welcome high-level visits and transit stops by Taiwan's officials.
Similarly, US Cabinet members should be able to travel to Taiwan and meet with senior leaders. He said that government officials would be smart enough to find a way to revise it, adding, "it's not up to Beijing to make a decision."
Baucus is not alone in requesting a policy change on layovers for Taiwan officials. Congressman Tom Delay, Majority Whip in the US House of Representatives, told Frank Hsieh (
Hsieh filed a complaint to US officials and members of Congress about the Clinton administration's warning to Chen during his 16-hour layover in Los Angeles. He said that it was a dishonor to the long-standing friendship between the US and Taiwan.
Hsieh further told the US Congress that Chen might visit Central America this coming May, and sources said that many lawmakers, including Senator Trent Lot, majority leader in the Senate, and Delay, felt strongly about the unreasonable treatment given to Taiwan's leaders. A bi-partisan resolution may result if Chen can not be honored appropriately, sources were quoted as saying.
A number of them, however, believe that Congress should wait until the new administra-tion, under George W. Bush, responds.
Officials from the Bush administration said that they were aware that some members of Con-gress had voiced concerns about high-level visits from Taiwan's officials. One official pointed out that the State Department was not yet on track after the change of power and that important players, such as Jim Kelly, assistant secretary on Asia Pacific Affairs, had not been confirmed by the Senate.
"It is difficult to give a real response to Congress," said the official, adding, "however, the new government will be sensitive to their request."
Baucus also expressed concern over China's military build-up across the Taiwan Strait. He said that from China's perspective, one of the most serious concerns would be the possibility that the US would sell Taiwan AEGIS-equipped destroyers, and that the US would include Taiwan in a Theater Missile Defense system for North Asia.
"In a very real sense," Baucus said, "China has brought this problem on itself."
He added that if China were to act in a less provocative way, there would be less pressure on the US to sell new weaponry. He warned that in absence of a fundamental change by China, "Taiwan will need a modern and sophisticated defense, and the United States will provide it."
Baucus also expressed his sympathy for Taiwan's need for "international space." He said that the Clinton administration's Taiwan policy review in the fall of 1994 concluded that the US would support Taiwan's membership in organizations where statehood was not a prerequisite and that the US would also support opportunities for Taiwan's voice to be heard in organizations where its membership is not possible.
He commented that this policy then evolved into the third of Clinton's "three no's," announced in Shanghai in 1997.
The third "no," as stated by Clinton, is that the US does not support Taiwan's membership in organizations that require statehood.
"We should return to the positive and more productive thrust of the 1994 review," Baucus told his audience.
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