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US policymakers seeking to contain China: academics

Taiwanese academics yesterday said that US policy toward China has returned to the "containment principle," and that Washington does not want to see Taiwan and China reconcile too quickly in the wake of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan's (連戰) meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤).

"A hasty reconciliation between Taiwan and China does not match US interests in East Asia, so Washington may become more deeply involved in Taiwan's policy toward China," said Philip Hsu (徐斯勤), an assistant professor of political science at National Taiwan University.

The remarks were made at a seminar held on cross-strait relations yesterday.

Hsu said he observed that US policy toward Taiwan has become increasingly intrusive.

He said that although the US opposed Taiwan's holding of a referendum during the presidential election in March of last year, the referendum still took place. Thus, Hsu said, the US learned that "pre-emptive diplomacy" was not sufficient to influence cross-strait relations, and US policymakers had since decided to take a more active approach in the Taiwan Strait.

As a result, the US is playing a more active role on Taiwan's domestic politics, Hsu said.

Hsu also accused the US government of clandestinely encouraging President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to sign a 10-point consensus with People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) -- a move regarded as curbing Taiwan's independence forces.

The US even publicly "directed" Chen to act moderately and reasonably while attending the March 26 demonstration against China's "Anti-Secession" Law, Hsu said.

On the other hand, as the US "war on terrorism" has generally eased, Washington's focus has been shifted back to Asia. The Bush administration sees China as its biggest challenger in this century, and as such, a kind of containment policy is being brought to the fore, Hsu said.

Hsu also noted that as China prepared to enact the Anti-Secession Law, Washington and Tokyo announced in February that the Taiwan Strait was a "common strategic objective."

In addition, the US has strongly opposed the EU's plan to lift its arms embargo against China. The US made it clear to the EU that it does not want to see China use European-made weapons to kill Americans one day, Hsu said.

He added, however, that as the US adjusted its policy to "contain" China, Taiwan's opposition leaders complicated matters by accepting invitations to visit high-ranking officials in Beijing.

Hao Pei-chih (郝培芝), an assistant professor of public administration and policy at National Taipei University, said the issue of containment is at the core of US-China relations.

According to Hao's version of the containment theory, powerful countries build economic, diplomatic and sometimes even military walls around their rivals, but also leave a door for negotiations.
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