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US Republican warns on NUC moves

Former US deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage, left, is greeted by Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng during a visit to the Legislative Yuan yesterday. Armitage told the media yesterday that he did not expect President Chen Shui-bian's decision to mothball the National Unification Council would have a significant long-term impact on cross-strait relations. PHOTO: CHU PEI-HSIUNG, TAIPEI TIMES

The powerful Republican chairman of the US Senate Armed Services Committee has expressed dissatisfaction over President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) move to mothball the National Unification Council (NUC) and guidelines, cautioning that the US may not be willing to defend Taiwan against a Chinese invasion if Taiwan provoked the hostilities.

The comment underscores how deeply Washington feels about Chen's actions and how they have become the focus in Washington of US-Taiwan relations in recent weeks.

Republican Senator John Warner voiced his concern during a hearing of the committee on the Pentagon's budget for fiscal 2007.

"I think that if that conflict were precipitated by just inappropriate and wrongful politics generated by the Taiwanese elected officials, I'm not entirely sure that this nation would come full force to their rescue if they created the problem," Warner said.

The US' experiences in Asia do not "encourage us to go further into military action ... particularly if they're brought up" by "injudicious judgment in politics," Warner said.

Taiwan's de facto ambassador to the US, David Lee (李大維), called Warner's comments "friendly advice from a famous statesman who is a friend of Taiwan."

In his regular monthly "tea party" press conference with the Taiwanese press corps in Washington, Lee recalled that some months ago Warner expressed his "good feelings" toward Taiwan, borne of his experiences as a young Marine in the Pacific in World War II.

Warner had said that since US forces were stretched so thin by the US' involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as its war on terror, "he was afraid that in the case there is a military crisis in the Taiwan Strait ... the US may not be able to get involved," Lee told the Taipei Times after the press conference.

"So he urged us to be cautious, to be prudent," Lee said.

Warner's message, which Lee transmitted to the government in Taipei, had been well received, Lee said.

At the hearing, the commander of US military forces in Asia tried to downplay the impact of Chen's actions and their implications for the military situation in the Strait.

Admiral William Fallon, the commander of the US' Pacific forces, told the committee that Chen's move "has caused some concern." However, he added that China's reaction to Chen's statements "has been pretty muted."

US forces in the Pacific have "not seen any military movements" by China in response to Chen's actions, Fallon said, in contrast to earlier crises where Chinese military activities have closely followed developments in Taiwan.

As a result, Fallon said, "to me, at least so far, it is indicative of [China] taking this more in [its] stride than just reacting."

The US' Pacific commander conceded that Chen's actions are not completely understood in Washington.

"I've seen a number of interpretations of what actually transpired in Taipei," he said.

However, "diminishing the importance" of the National Unification Council, which "hasn't really done much in recent times," Fallon said, "exacerbates the challenge we have where rhetoric goes back and forth."

He called Chen's actions "unfortunate," but not "particularly damaging."

If Chen takes other steps indicating people are being stirred up in Taiwan, "I think this would be a real concern," Fallon said.

Overall, Fallon told the committee, cross-strait tensions have been "significantly reduced" from a year ago.

Meanwhile, upon his arrival in Taipei yesterday, former US deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage said that he would most likely discuss the National Unification Council issue with Chen, although he was not too concerned about the issue himself.

Armitage said he could understand the reasoning behind Chen's decision, and that he did not expect the move to have any significant impact on cross-strait relations in the long run.

Beijing did not seem to be overreacting to Chen's move, and its response had been "what we expected," he said.

Prior to visiting Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) yesterday afternoon, Armitage said that Taiwan can have a new constitution if that is what voters want.

"Any democracy can change its constitution if it has the support of the people. If Taiwan wants it, they can do it," he said in response to a question from reporters.

Additional reporting by Shih Hsiu-chuan

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