Washington’s “one China” policy could be “unsustainable,” US House of Representatives Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific Chairman Matt Salmon said on Wednesday.
“I am wondering if it is time for us to look at tweaking that policy a little bit,” he told a subcommittee meeting on the strategic impact of China’s economic and military growth.
“Things have changed,” he said. “Taiwan is now a thriving democracy and a lot of the policies that we have toward it right now seem to be outdated,” Salmon said.
He said that Beijing’s promise to have “one China,” but two systems for Hong Kong had turned out to be a joke.
“They do not even have the ability to choose their own chief executive and there is no universal suffrage in Hong Kong,” Salmon said.
He said that Taiwan was watching developments in Hong Kong closely and certainly did not want that kind of “unification.”
“They have a thriving democracy that works and when they see how Hong Kong is treated they say: ‘Not on your life — that is not for us,’” Salmon said.
China used “lousy, stupid politics” to stop Taiwan gaining international space and joining international organizations, he said.
“They cannot even participate in Interpol, where they should at least have observer status,” Salmon said.
“It is ludicrous, the walking on eggshells that we do to try to appease China on this ‘one China’ policy thing,” he said.
Jerome Cohen, senior fellow for Asia Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, who was testifying before the subcommittee, said that whoever replaces President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) is going to create “a new kind of difficulty” in cross-strait relations.
He said that Ma had reached the limit of making agreements with China that did not prejudice the security of Taiwan.
“The people of Taiwan are expressing themselves and they want to have more say in Taiwan’s future,” Cohen said.
He said that at the same time, China appeared to be getting more nationalistic and less patient. Over the next few years, Cohen predicted, tensions over the Taiwan Strait would increase.
Salmon called on the administration of US President Barack Obama to provide more clarity of its policies.
“What are we going to do to uphold the Taiwan Relations Act?” he asked.
American Enterprise Institute resident researcher Derek Scissors suggested that if the US completes the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal, it could let Taiwan join before China, which would do something “to change the recognition of the two countries.”
Salmon said there was “support across the board” for Taiwan joining the TPP in the second round.
He said the support from US Democrats and Republicans for Taiwan joining the TPP in advance of China was “very robust.”
Cohen said that Taiwan should do more on its own and should lead an effort to develop imaginative proposals to encourage a settlement of tensions and issues in the South China Sea.
“There is a way for Taiwan to help, just as they managed to reach a fisheries agreement with Japan in the East China Sea,” he said.
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
Trips for more than 100,000 international and domestic air travelers could be disrupted as China launches a military exercise around Taiwan today, Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said yesterday. The exercise could affect nearly 900 flights scheduled to enter the Taipei Flight Information Region (FIR) during the exercise window, it added. A notice issued by the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration showed there would be seven temporary zones around the Taiwan Strait which would be used for live-fire exercises, lasting from 8am to 6pm today. All aircraft are prohibited from entering during exercise, it says. Taipei FIR has 14 international air routes and
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
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