While happy to see both sides of the Taiwan Strait developing better relations under President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration, former American Institute in Taiwan chairman Richard Bush said yesterday that the government should not damage Taiwan’s long-term interests.
Bush, now the director of the Brookings Institution’s Center for Northeast Asian Policy Studies (NCAPS), made the remarks during a conference on cross-strait political and economic relations and the next US administration organized by NCAPS in Taipei.
“Washington’s main goal has been the maintenance of peace and prosperity in the Taiwan Strait,” he said.
Bush praised Ma’s attempt to downplay the more hostile position that former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) Democratic Progressive Party government had taken toward China.
While there was distrust and fear on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, it was a good thing that “the two adversaries are breaking away from the mutual distrust,” Bush said.
However, it may be risky for the two sides to “do it all at once,” he said.
“Taiwan must be careful with sovereignty issues,” he said. “When putting aside the sovereignty issue, you must be careful not to damage Taiwan’s long-term interests.”
The Ma administration has made it a policy to put aside the sovereignty issue in its cross-strait negotiations with Beijing.
Bush said he was aware that not everybody in Taiwan was happy about closer ties with China, and that the government should try to bridge the political divide.
Richard Hu (胡偉星), an associate professor at University of Hong Kong’s department of politics and public administration, agreed.
“Instead of one Taiwan, one China, or two Chinas, there are actually one China and two Taiwans,” Hu said. “There’s a pan-blue Taiwan and a pan-green Taiwan — how will China face the two Taiwans?”
Although supporting cross-strait peace and development, Hu said he would advise Ma to “start from simple things, work to build trust” between Taiwan and China first, “then move to something more complicated.”
Brookings president Strobe Talbott said the next US administration would support the idea of giving Taiwan more international space.
Talbott said there would be continuity in Washington’s Taiwan Strait policy.
He said Taiwan should be allowed to participate in the international community because the world of today was much more complicated than in the past and countries are more interdependent.
“Taiwan is part of the international community and has contributed to the international community,” Talbott said, citing Taiwan’s presence in the WTO and its contributions in medicine and public health.
The next US admininstration will support “the concept of giving more international space to Taiwan,” said Talbott, who served as deputy secretary of state under former US president Bill Clinton and has been mentioned as a possible appointee in the new government.
Talbott said Washington’s Taiwan Strait policy would continue to be based on the “one China” policy, the three communiques and the Taiwan Relations Act.
“The United States’ commitment to peace, stability, and a non-confrontation approach in cross-strait matters has no changes whatsoever,” Talbott said.
“I would say that president-elect [Barack] Obama will continue the previous US policy in the Asia region. You can count on it,” Talbott said.
ADDTIONAL REPORTING BY CNA
The first global hotel Keys Selection by the Michelin Guide includes four hotels in Taiwan, Michelin announced yesterday. All four received the “Michelin One Key,” indicating guests are to experience a “very special stay” at any of the locations as the establishments are “a true gem with personality. Service always goes the extra mile, and the hotel provides much more than others in its price range.” Of the four hotels, three are located in Taipei and one in Taichung. In Taipei, the One Key accolades were awarded to the Capella Taipei, Kimpton Da An Taipei and Mandarin Oriental Taipei. Capella Taipei was described by
EVA Airways today confirmed the death of a flight attendant on Saturday upon their return to Taiwan and said an internal investigation has been launched, as criticism mounted over a social media post accusing the airline of failing to offer sufficient employee protections. According to the post, the flight attendant complained of feeling sick on board a flight, but was unable to take sick leave or access medical care. The crew member allegedly did not receive assistance from the chief purser, who failed to heed their requests for medical attention or call an ambulance once the flight landed, the post said. As sick
The Taichung District Court yesterday confirmed its final ruling that the marriage between teenage heir Lai (賴) and a man surnamed Hsia (夏) was legally invalid, preventing Hsia from inheriting Lai’s NT$500 million (US$16.37 million) estate. The court confirmed that Hsia chose not to appeal the civil judgement after the court handed down its ruling in June, making the decision final. In the June ruling, the court said that Lai, 18, and Hsia, 26, showed “no mutual admiration before the marriage” and that their interactions were “distant and unfamiliar.” The judge concluded that the couple lacked the “true intention of
INDUSTRY: Beijing’s latest export measures go beyond targeting the US and would likely affect any country that uses Chinese rare earths or related tech, an academic said Taiwanese industries could face significant disruption from China’s newly tightened export controls on rare earth elements, as much of Taiwan’s supply indirectly depends on Chinese materials processed in Japan, a local expert said yesterday. Kristy Hsu (徐遵慈), director of the Taiwan ASEAN Studies Center at the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research, said that China’s latest export measures go far beyond targeting the US and would likely affect any country that uses Chinese rare earths or related technologies. With Japan and Southeast Asian countries among those expected to be hit, Taiwan could feel the impact through its reliance on Japanese-made semi-finished products and
RSS