A US government official has given a glimpse into how Taiwan was discussed at the closed-door seventh annual US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue held in Washington last month.
“They [China] had a number of concerns with regard to Taiwan,” US Deputy Secretary of State for East Asia Susan Thornton told a meeting at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
“Primarily, the concerns that they raised with us had to do with Taiwan arms sales — but they also raised other concerns,” she said.
The meeting, addressed by Thornton, US Department of the Treasury Deputy Assistant Secretary for Asia Robert Dohner and Treasury Senior Coordinator for China Affairs Christopher Adams, was one of the first open briefings on the dialogue which is to prepare the way for Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) Washington visit in September.
Thornton was asked if the possibility of a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) victory in the upcoming Taiwanese presidential elections was discussed.
“With regard to the specific issue that you raise, I think that we know there is concern, but I wouldn’t say there was any specific discussion about that topic,” she said.
When a questioner said that China usually puts some emphasis on Taiwan issues, Thornton agreed.
“I don’t want to get too much into the details of the conversation, but you are right. The Chinese are always insistent on raising the Taiwan issue. It is one of their core interests that center on the territorial and sovereignty issues that China views as important to its national interests and so Taiwan is usually raised,” she said.
Thornton said that the US did not “make efforts to put out agendas or anything like that” and Taiwan was not a topic for which Washington had “necessarily scheduled a lot of time for discussion.”
“But, of course China has strong feelings on this and we are having this dialogue to review their concerns,” she said.
Thornton was asked if the US side had briefed China about the recent visit of DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and if US President Barack Obama’s administration intended to invite Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presumptive presidential candidate Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) to visit the US.
Thornton ignored the first part of the question about Tsai.
“The Taiwan question is easy. We have already said publicly that we welcome other candidates to visit the US — we have already said we welcome other candidates to visit,” she said.
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