The administration of US President George W. Bush was clearly pleased with the results of the presidential election in Taiwan, but there may be some concern over whether president-elect Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) will make concessions to China that could affect the trilateral relations between Washington, Taipei and Beijing, observers said.
Following eight years of the Chen Shui-bian (
However, a sizable group of Taiwan's champions in the US Congress, who support independence for Taiwan and Taiwan's entry into the UN, are just as likely to be unhappy with Ma's big win and the failure of the referendums on Taiwan's entry into the UN.
And some conservatives in Washington are likely to remain wary that Ma will adopt what they consider an "unhealthy" pro-China stance.
In the end, however, some observers feel that not much is likely to change -- with the exception, of course, of the bad blood that has grown between presidents Bush and Chen.
Less than two hours after Saturday's election results were announced, Bush issued an effusive statement of praise for Taiwan and US-Taiwan relations, in which he called Taiwan "a beacon of democracy in Asia and the world" and proclaimed that "the maintenance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and the welfare of the people on Taiwan remain of profound importance to the United States."
"I would take that as a good sign for Taiwan that the president himself wants to have a better relationship," said Dan Blumenthal, a former Pentagon official involved in Taiwan and China policy and co-author of a recent study on the future of US-Taiwan relations.
Bush also called on Taiwan and Beijing to seek better cross-strait relations. But Blumenthal was less sanguine.
"I wouldn't be too enthusiastic in Washington that this will improve cross-strait relations tremendously," he said. "There is only so far that any president of Taiwan can go in that respect."
In a statement after the election, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO) expressed its appreciation to the US government for its support of Taiwan.
The office, Taiwan's unofficial embassy in Washington, said it "would like to express its gratitude to the US government and people for their long-standing support of Taiwan's democratic development, and hopes that the US government and its people will continue to support the efforts of the new president to consolidate and deepen the substantial relations between our two countries."
Whatever happens now, there is a need for early bilateral communications, observers feel.
Michael Fonte, the Washington consultant to the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), said the Bush administration would probably seek "immediate and close conversations" with Ma or his aides, perhaps in Washington, to discuss the new president's positions and plans regarding relations with China and the US.
"There has been some concern on the part of some people here [in Washington] that he seemed to be positioning Taiwan as almost a neutral space between China and the United States," Fonte said.
"They will want to be clear where this leaves us in terms of military-to-military relations, defense relations and deterrence. The people who worry about the defense side of the issue would like to be much clearer with Mr Ma," he said.
Blumenthal also urged such early communications to "talk about the top-three things they want to get done before the Bush administration leaves," which includes arms sales, the speeding up of a free-trade agreement and cross-strait trade normalization. The arms sales, Blumenthal said, should include unfreezing of Taiwan's request for dozens of advanced F-16 fighter jets and talks on possible sales of diesel submarines to Taiwan.
Such agreements would be part of "Bush's legacy in terms of his Taiwan policy," Blumenthal said.
The former defense official conceded that there were concerns in the administration when Ma visited Washington in 2006 that his talk about a peace agreement with China would compromise US-Taiwan relations. But hel plays down such concerns now.
"The Taiwan body politic has changed and there's only so far you can go in negotiations with China on the issues that will decide Taiwan's future," he said.
Noting Ma's campaign criticism of China over Tibet and other statements distancing himself from China, Blumenthal said: "I wouldn't expect major changes in Taiwan in regards to China."
Jacob Chang, a representative of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in Washington, said the US government would be "very happy" with the results of the election.
"Before the election, Washington said it will work with whoever is elected by the Taiwan people. I believe Washington should be very happy with the election, not only because of the results, but because of the process, which was peaceful and free, and which I think is more important than the results," he said.
Chang said he was not aware of any efforts by the Bush administration to hold early talks with Ma.
"I think the channels of communication are pretty smooth, both here and in Taipei," he said.
As to whether Jason Yuan (袁健生), the KMT chief representative in Washington, would succeed Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) as Taiwan's representative, Chang declined to speculate.
"We have a process. The government has a democratic process," he said.
Yuan has always denied he was seeking the post, although he is very familiar with Washington, having served in the city years earlier and is well respected in town.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater