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Congress members call for an end to `one China' policy

Nine members of the US Congress sent a joint letter to US President George W. Bush yesterday calling for an end to the US' "one China" policy.

Led by House Foreign Affairs Committee member Representative Gus Bilirakis, the letter asked Bush to end the "one China" policy, which the letter described as a vestige of the Cold War and liable to send China the wrong signals regarding the Taiwan situation.

The representatives -- almost all Republicans -- said that because the "one China" policy implies that Taiwan is part of China, it undermines the legitimacy of the US policy of providing defensive weapons to Taiwan and also gives China an opportunity to control strategic regional waters.

Representatives

Representatives Gus Bilirakis, Tom Tancredo, Chair of the House Republican Policy Committee Thaddeus McCotter, Steve Chabot, Scott Garrett, Dana Rohrabacher, John Culberson, Mark Souder and Collin Peterson said that the assumption that Taiwan is part of China "seriously undermines the legitimacy of our provision to sell Taiwan defensive weapons. It also ignores the fact that Taiwan has made an impressive transformation from authoritarianism to democracy over the past twenty years."

China's refusal last year to grant US ships access to Hong Kong harbor under bad weather conditions, they said, was retribution for the US' security commitment to Taiwan and the decision to award the Congressional Gold Medal to the Dalai Lama.

This was a "transgression of international maritime practice and ... raises serious questions about China's commitment to international norms," the letter said.

Peace

"It is clear that it is not the `One China' policy that has kept the peace in the western Pacific. Rather, it has been our commitment to Taiwan's security under the Taiwan Relations Act," it said.

The US is abiding by a policy first implemented in the 1970s in the 21st century, they said.

"Unless our outdated policy vis-a-vis the PRC [People's Republic of China] and Taiwan is modernized, the United States should expect tensions in the region to continue rising," the letter said.

The letter ends by calling upon the US to "set a good example" and to "support democracy in Taiwan."
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