US President George W. Bush has engaged in a "non-zero-sum" approach to Washington-Beijing-Taipei ties and the result has been "so far so good," a high-ranking government official said yesterday.
"Since Bush has been in office, for the first time I have come to believe it's possible to handle the triangular relations in non-zero-sum terms. And the US administration under Bush has operated quite well," Presidential Office Secretary-General Chiou I-jen (
While the current US administration had "elevated" US-Taiwan relations from the outset, it turned to improve US-China ties following the Sept.11 attacks, Chiou said.
"But at the same time, Bush didn't seek to downgrade ties between the US and Taiwan," Chiou said. "I consider this approach so far, so good."
Chiou made the remarks during a question-and-answer session following his talk on US-Japan-Taiwan relations to a group of legislators.
While Japan remains America's top ally in the North Pacific region -- just as Britain maintains its role as Washington's most important ally in the North Atlantic -- Taiwan should seek to improve ties with the US-Japan security alliance, Chiou said.
One concrete measures, Chiou argued, would be for for Taiwan to work with the US and Japan should those countries begin to break the ice by offering economic aid to North Korea.
"Taiwan has no strength to pose a threat to North Korea, nor does it have any historical entanglement with that country," Chiou said
"But its substantive economic strength will facilitate its role in offering economic aid to North Korea," Chiou said.
Taiwan's "smallness," Chiou argued, could mitigate North Korea's misgivings should Taipei participate in any future US-Japan aid project to the isolated communist country.
While DPP Legislator Wang Tuoh (
"It's a troublesome and complex relationship, in terms of how a Japan-US alliance would interact with China," Chiou said.
"The US and Japan would improve ties with China in a very slow manner," Chiou said.
"After all, China is still seen as a backward country run by dictators that has a long way to go to catch up with the US and Japan in terms of living standards," he said.
Chiou said Japan is expected to rise as a regional heavyweight in political terms, and urged Taiwan to drop the historic feuds with its former colonial ruler to face what he termed as a "new scenario" in the region.
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