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Analyst concerned about US policy

An American analyst has questioned US reservations about Taiwan's plan to hold referendums, saying the stance, if confirmed, suggested Washington's Taiwan policy was drifting "dangerously close" to that of Beijing.

Gary Schmitt, executive director of the Project for the New American Century, said he was concerned about a reported warning from the de facto US ambassador to Taiwan to President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) against referendums because they would provoke China.

Project for a New American Century is a group of neo-conservatives supported by US Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld that promotes a more interventionist role for the US in international affairs.

While saying he could not confirm reports on the meeting between the president and Douglas Paal, director of the American Institute in Taiwan, Schmitt said Paal's representations would raise many questions if the reports are accurate.

"Why is the US de facto ambassador to Taipei conveying PRC policy toward Taiwan? The unfortunate answer is that US policy on Taiwan has drifted dangerously close to the mainland's by viewing Taiwan's democracy and efforts at self-determination as irresponsible and provocative -- rather than normal and admirable for a country of 23 million that has moved from dictatorship to democracy," Schmitt wrote on Tuesday.

"Another question is, how can the US oppose the exercise of democracy in Taiwan?" he said.

Schmitt also lamented what he saw as Washington's weak support for Taipei's efforts to gain international legitimacy by citing the lukewarm support the US gave to Taiwan's bid to join the World Health Organization.

These US policy decisions, Schmitt argued, would encourage China's leaders to view Taiwan's separateness as temporary, while making Taiwan feel unification is inevitable.

He said US officials who judged Taipei's efforts at gaining international standing or determining their own affairs as "provocative" would in effect be doing Beijing's bidding.

"In doing so, these officials virtually force the democratic government of Taiwan to seek opportunities to create the political and diplomatic space it needs to reaffirm its legitimate existence internationally -- creating the very crisis in cross-strait relations they are supposedly trying to avoid," Schmitt wrote.

Schmitt called for a "revised" American policy that "reassures Taiwan that unification is only possible if freely chosen by the people of Taiwan," and makes clear that the US would resist militarily any effort by China to force unification.

Meanwhile, Minister of Foreign Affairs Eugene Chien (簡又新) has filed a telegram back to Taipei summarizing his meeting on Monday with AIT Chairwoman Therese Shaheen in New York City, insiders said.

"The minister said [in the telegram] he has expressed the government's position on the issue of referendums to Shaheen over their lunch meeting," said an official who has read the five-page summary.

"But the US does not support such a move," the official said.

Shaheen reportedly expressed US concerns to Chien over the government's move to hold consultative referendums on major policy issues, while raising questions regarding the necessity of referendums, China's reaction and other uncertainties.

But officials in Taipei declined to confirm these reported concerns from Shaheen, nor did the foreign minister touch upon these concerns in detail in his written report to Taipei.
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