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Editorial: US and Taiwan should talk more

One of the more noticeable things about Mainland Affairs Council Chairwoman Tsai Ying-wen's (蔡英文) visit last week to the US was just how necessary it seems to have been. That is not because President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) remarks on the separateness of China and Taiwan were so baffling that they needed intensive exegesis. Rather, it was because of the degree to which the questions Tsai was asked showed just how little Taiwan's basic situation was understood even in the corridors of power of its strongest supporter.

There are a number of reasons for this. One of them, surely, is the almost theological obscurantism that characterizes the endless Taiwan/China controversy. How many of the even well-informed really understand the difference between the one-China principal and the one-China policy, or at that between the three no's, the four no's, the five no's the six assurances and the seven points.

Then again there is the long history of Taiwan governments saying one thing while doing the other. For instance, the Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) administra-tion's giving verbal support to its own one-China policy while actually pursuing a two-China version.

Chen and the DPP have attempted to clarify the situation but still we see a worrying timidity, as shown by the way that, after Chen's making a bold and widely supported statement on Aug. 3, both the government and the ruling party spent the entirety of last week trying to back away from the president's speech. Of course, given the cacophony of criticism occasioned by the president's telling the truth, there is perhaps an incentive to keep quiet. But this does not help anyone understand what Taiwan's position is.

Then of course there is the pro-China media, ever ready to unleash the bloodhounds on a scent provided by the opposition parties. The problem here is the opposition is extremely good at setting up what logicians call a straw man, that is arguing not against what somebody actually said but against a deliberate but plausible misinterpretation. Look at the arguments fielded by the media and the "pan-blue" camp last week about the "dangers" of a referendum. What the president said was not that Taiwan should hold a referendum on independence, but that any decision on unification had to be put to the vote, something the KMT, of course, still refuses to do. But our point here is that the straw man arguments beloved of the opposition and its media cronies tend also to be extremely distorting to outside perceptions of Taiwan's policy.

What the Tsai trip showed is that more opportu

nity is needed for those involved in the formulation of US policy to meet more authoritative voices from Taiwan. Trips such as Tsai's should be both more common and involve a greater number of high-ranking officials. In fact, regular annual talks between a group of Taiwanese officials, perhaps led by the premier, and their US counterparts would be a good way of making sure that Washington understands the real situation here in Taiwan and could give pointers as to what it liked and what it didn't about Taiwan's policy.

For this, of course, there would have to be a rethink on the US side about who it was willing to see and in what circumstances. The arrangement by which China can effectively dictate to the US government what officials from Taiwan it can officially see is a scandal that the US has put up with long enough. Even the Dalai Lama -- Beijing hate object that he is -- can visit the White House. Not so Taiwan's president or premier or in fact any government official from Taipei. If the US doesn't want to be surprised by Taiwan in the future it should do something to facilitate a better exchange of views and opinions.
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