The George W. Bush administration has again emphasized that it opposes a declaration of independence by Taiwan.
The comments are seen as an effort to counter the impact of President Bush's recent remarks on Taiwan's defense and to signal to both sides of the Strait that US policy on Taiwan has not changed.
The latest outline of US Taiwan policy came from the administration's nominee for future ambassador to Beijing, Clark Randt, during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday.
"As the president has plainly articulated, we insist on a peaceful resolution of the Taiwan issue and do not support a declaration of independence by Taiwan," he said in an opening statement.
"Our consistent position, based on the Taiwan Relations Act and the three communiques, is that there is `one China.' We will honor out commitments under the Taiwan Relations Act," he said.
Some observers feel that the administration is still trying to re-establish the policy of "strategic ambiguity" when it comes to helping in Taiwan's defense should it be attacked by China. Bush on April 25 told a television reporter that Washington would do "whatever it took" to defend Taiwan in case of a Chinese attack.
Randt said that the president's statement would not give Taiwan less of an incentive to "engage in a purposeful dialogue with mainland China with respect to the `one China' policy."
While Beijing has complained that the statement would encourage supporters of Taiwan independence, administration officials immediately backtracked, with one official telling the Taipei Times that day that "we are not encouraging Taiwan independence."
John Bolton, the new undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, was upbraided by Democrats during his Senate confirmation hearing this spring for a think tank article he wrote some years ago favoring Taiwan independence.
While the "no independence" stance has long been understood as an implicit part of America's Taiwan policy, officials have rarely found it necessary to enunciate it until recently -- especially since Bush's statement.
However, those statements, and the administration's repeated statements supporting the one China policy, have upset some Taiwan supporters in Washington, some of whom see it at a reiteration of the "three no's" policy former US president Bill Clinton declared in Shanghai in 1998.
That policy called for no independence, no membership in international organizations for which statehood is a requirement, and no "one China, one Taiwan."
Randt told the committee that the main priority for US obligations under the Taiwan Relations Act is the "obligation to provide defensive articles and services in such quantity as are sufficient to enable Taiwan to defend itself." He said the act gives Washington sufficient power to accomplish that goal.
Randt said that the increasing economic ties between Taiwan and China should encourage a compromise on cross-strait discussions.
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