Cross-strait clash means `everybody loses,' US warns

The Bush administration urged China and Taiwan on Thursday to avoid any unilateral steps that might upset the status quo and warned that "everybody loses" in the event of a cross-strait clash.

"In terms of the Taiwan Straits [sic], obviously a conflict in the Taiwan Straits [sic], everybody loses. China loses, Taiwan loses, we lose, the area loses," US President George W. Bush's national security adviser Stephen Hadley said.

"The cornerstone of our policy, of course, is that disagreements in that part of the world need to be resolved peacefully. The two parties need to avoid unilateral action that would upset the status quo in the region," he said.

Hadley's comments came after a speech on Bush's newly released National Security Strategy, a periodic blueprint in which the US president expressed concern about the pace of democratic reforms in China.

"The relationship with China is extremely complex. We have areas of very positive cooperation with China," Hadley said.

"We also have areas of behavior by China which cause us considerable concern," he said.

"We think, in the end of the day, China also faces a strategic choice: whether they are going to follow up the increasing amounts of economic freedom they're affording to the people and whether they are willing to respond to the inevitable demands of their people for political freedom as well," Hadley said.

"And our view is that only if China does so will it be truly stable over the long term and will the Chinese people be able to reach their full potential and will China reach its full potential," he said.

The 49-page blueprint declares that US strategy "seeks to encourage China to make the right strategic choices for its people, while we hedge against other possibilities."