China has for the first time indicated it is willing to discuss the establishment of a telephone hotline between the Pentagon and the Chinese Foreign Ministry, a senior US defense official has revealed.
While such a line would aim mainly at dealing with a possible repetition of the April, 2001 EP-3 incident in which a US reconnaissance plane was forced down on Hainan Island, the link could also help diffuse tensions in case of Chinese military action against Taiwan.
The Chinese made their offer during a two-day meeting in late January in Beijing between Deputy Assistant of Defense for East Asia, Richard Lawless and Chinese Defense Ministry officials, which was billed as the first "special policy dialogue" between the two powers.
During the meeting, the Chin-ese officials said "they would be prepared to positively consider this," the US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told a small group of reporters in Washington. However, he added, they were "some distance from making a decision."
At previous meetings when the US raised the issue, the answer was always, "no, with almost no chance" of their okay, the US official said.
This time, it has "perhaps moved to no, for the moment," the official said.
The Chinese told the Pentagon delegation that the issue was very important and that Beijing needed to consult internally before reaching a decision.
The US official pointed out that Washington now has similar military-to-military hotlines with 60 countries, including every other member of the UN Security Council.
While the subject of Taiwan came up at the meeting, it did not occupy much time and was "fairly straightforward," the official said.
"There were no new positions explained by either side," he said.
However, the US did repeat Washington's deep concern over the continued Chinese military buildup across the Strait, which, the US team noted, has not abated.
The Chinese used an expression made by former President Jiang Zemin (
"It seemed to us that there were two winds blowing," the US official said.
"The tree was being whipsawed between two winds. Therefore, we wanted to make sure that China understands that we consider the military modernization program, and particularly the very, very dynamic buildup of military capability across the Strait vis-a-vis Taiwan as a destabilizing factor and a factor of concern to us," he said.
"And we have not seen any abatement, any reduction in the buildup. And because of that we are extremely concerned," the US official said.
The Chinese did make a presentation of the new Defense White Paper Beijing issued in December, in which the Chinese declared that the main aim of the military buildup was to crush an attempt by Taiwan at independence.
Two issues in the document grabbed Washington' attention and appeared to be "noticeable departures" from Beijing's previous White Paper, issued in December 2002, the anonymous official said.
First, the explicit identification of the US, "and by coincidence Japan," as "complicating factors" in China's East Asian security environment.
Second, the White Paper's description of the Taiwan situation as "grim."
The Lawless team asked the Chinese why the changes had been made but the they "did not respond directly," the US official said.
"They said the report noted that the US is in the process of transformation and realignment in the Asia Pacific area, and that has created uncertainties, and uncertainties begot their concerns," the official said.
The January meeting was meant to move forward the momentum achieved by both sides in their four-year-old series of defense consultative talks and efforts to hammer out a Military Maritime Consultative Agreement (MMCA), which would coordinate efforts to improve safety at sea and deal with emergency situations.
The talks have become bogged down over China's insistence that the two sides first settle the political issue of the "root cause" of the problem in essence, their differences over the meaning of the distance from shore of the "exclusive economic zone (EEZ)" claimed as sovereign territory by China, and the US' insistence that this issue be shelved in favor of first solving technical and procedural issues.
The US official also said that plans for a visit to China by US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld it still up in the air as a result of scheduling issues, although Rumsfeld still intends to make the trip this year.
A drunk woman was sexually assaulted inside a crowded concourse of Taipei Railway Station on Thursday last week before a foreign tourist notified police, leading to calls for better education on bystander intervention and review of security infrastructure. The man, surnamed Chiu (邱), was taken into custody on charges of sexual assault, taking advantage of the woman’s condition and public indecency. Police discovered that Chiu was a fugitive with prior convictions for vehicle theft. He has been taken into custody and is to complete his unserved six-month sentence, police said. On Thursday last week, Chiu was seen wearing a white
The Taoyuan Flight Attendants’ Union yesterday vowed to protest at the EVA Air Marathon on Sunday next week should EVA Airway Corp’s management continue to ignore the union’s petition to change rules on employees’ leave of absence system, after a flight attendant reportedly died after working on a long-haul flight while ill. The case has generated public discussion over whether taking personal or sick leave should affect a worker’s performance review. Several union members yesterday protested at the Legislative Yuan, holding white flowers and placards, while shouting: “Life is priceless; requesting leave is not a crime.” “The union is scheduled to meet with
‘UNITED FRONT’ RHETORIC: China’s TAO also plans to hold weekly, instead of biweekly, news conferences because it wants to control the cross-strait discourse, an expert said China’s plan to expand its single-entry visa-on-arrival service to Taiwanese would be of limited interest to Taiwanese and is a feeble attempt by Chinese administrators to demonstrate that they are doing something, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) spokesman Chen Binhua (陳斌華) said the program aims to facilitate travel to China for Taiwanese compatriots, regardless of whether they are arriving via direct flights or are entering mainland China through Hong Kong, Macau or other countries, and they would be able to apply for a single-entry visa-on-arrival at all eligible entry points in China. The policy aims
COUNTERMEASURE: Taiwan was to implement controls for 47 tech products bound for South Africa after the latter downgraded and renamed Taipei’s ‘de facto’ offices The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is still reviewing a new agreement proposed by the South African government last month to regulate the status of reciprocal representative offices, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. Asked about the latest developments in a year-long controversy over Taiwan’s de facto representative office in South Africa, Lin during a legislative session said that the ministry was consulting with legal experts on the proposed new agreement. While the new proposal offers Taiwan greater flexibility, the ministry does not find it acceptable, Lin said without elaborating. The ministry is still open to resuming retaliatory measures against South
RSS