A new congressional analysis of the US-Taiwan relationship concludes that for decades Taiwan has been of “significant security, economic and political interest to the United States.”
Written for the Congressional Research Service (CRS) by Shirley Kan, a specialist on Asian security, and Wayne Morrison, a specialist in Asian trade and finance, the document — also billed as an “overview of policy issues” — clarifies some US positions that had become murky or even confused.
“Overall, US policy seeks to support security, political and economic interests in peace and stability as well as the status quo in the Taiwan Strait,” it says.
The analysis adds that US policy also supports Taiwan’s efforts to maintain international space, democracy and human rights in Taiwan and US businesses in Taiwan.
As a “critical concern” the study says that the US has interests in the “ties or tension” across the Taiwan Strait, which affect global peace and stability.
US policy also seeks a cooperative relationship with China, which opposes US arms sales and other official dealings with Taiwan as interference in its internal affairs.
However, in the era of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) “cross-strait engagement” the analysis says that both Washington and Taipei have “put more efforts into their respective relations with Beijing” than they have put into relations with each other.
“Taiwan and some members of Congress have been concerned about suspected delays in consideration of Taiwan’s defense needs by [US] President Barack Obama, particularly out of concern about the military and overall relationship with the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” it says.
“Taiwan has asked for continued US security assistance. However, Taiwan under President Ma has cut its defense budget and has failed to reach the promised defense spending at three percent of GDP,” the analysis says.
It says that while Ma contends that he values democracy, freedoms and human rights, critics claim that Taiwan under the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has not done enough to promote those values in China or to promote judicial reforms at home.
“Some have questioned whether the KMT administration has downplayed democracy promotion by the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy and has been less welcoming to the exiled Tibetan leader Dalai Lama and exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer,” it says.
“A number of US and foreign former officials and activists have written an open letter to President Ma to express concerns,” it says.
The analysis cites a letter of April 11 in the Taipei Times asking whether legal charges brought against 17 former Democratic Progressive Party officials under former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) administration for allegedly failing to return about 36,000 documents were politically motivated.
Taiwan’s upcoming presidential elections have implications for US interests in democracy and stability, the analysis says.
“There is concern in Washington about Beijing’s actions before and after the elections with Beijing favoring the incumbent President Ma,” it says.
“If the opposition DPP Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) wins in January 2012 … Beijing could pressure the outgoing KMT president for concessions and take a strident stance toward the DPP. Though uncertainty is rising, many analysts expect more continuity than change in any outcome of the election,” it says.
“Compared to the KMT, the DPP tends to be more Taiwan-centric and more wary of ties with the PRC. The DPP tends to stress relations with the US and other democracies (like Japan) over ties with mainland China,” it says.
Taiwanese paleontologists have discovered fossil evidence that pythons up to 4m long inhabited Taiwan during the Pleistocene epoch, reporting their findings in the international scientific journal Historical Biology. National Taiwan University (NTU) Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology associate professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修) led the team that discovered the largest snake fossil ever found in Taiwan. The single trunk vertebra was discovered in Tainan at the Chiting Formation, dated to between 400,000 and 800,000 years ago in the Middle Pleistocene, the paper said. The area also produced Taiwan’s first avian fossil, as well as crocodile, mammoth, saber-toothed cat and rhinoceros fossils, it said. Discoveries
Taiwanese paleontologists have discovered fossil evidence that pythons up to 4m long inhabited Taiwan during the Pleistocene epoch, reporting their findings in the international scientific journal Historical Biology. National Taiwan University (NTU) Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology associate professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修) led the team that discovered the largest snake fossil ever found in Taiwan. A single trunk vertebra was discovered in Tainan at the Chiting Formation, dated to between 800,000 to 400,000 years ago in the Middle Pleistocene, the paper said. The area also produced Taiwan’s first avian fossil, as well as crocodile, mammoth, sabre-toothed cat and rhinoceros fossils, it said. Discoveries
Whether Japan would help defend Taiwan in case of a cross-strait conflict would depend on the US and the extent to which Japan would be allowed to act under the US-Japan Security Treaty, former Japanese minister of defense Satoshi Morimoto said. As China has not given up on the idea of invading Taiwan by force, to what extent Japan could support US military action would hinge on Washington’s intention and its negotiation with Tokyo, Morimoto said in an interview with the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) yesterday. There has to be sufficient mutual recognition of how Japan could provide
UPDATED TEST: The new rules aim to assess drivers’ awareness of risky behaviors and how they respond under certain circumstances, the Highway Bureau said Driver’s license applicants who fail to yield to pedestrians at intersections or to check blind spots, or omit pointing-and-calling procedures would fail the driving test, the Highway Bureau said yesterday. The change is set to be implemented at the end of the month, and is part of the bureau’s reform of the driving portion of the test, which has been criticized for failing to assess whether drivers can operate vehicles safely. Sedan drivers would be tested regarding yielding to pedestrians and turning their heads to check blind spots, while drivers of large vehicles would be tested on their familiarity with pointing-and-calling
RSS