The US expects China's Vice President Hu Jintao (
Apart from using every means at its disposal to gain an understanding of Hu, therefore, the US is also trying to ensure that this future leader of China understands its global strategy and anti-terrorist policies, especially its Asia-Pacific policy.
In his recent visit to the US, Hu made the Taiwan issue the main topic of his talks with US officials and tried to push Washington to downgrade its arms sales to and security cooperation with Taiwan. The US raised the issue of China's breaking its promises regarding weapons proliferation and demanded that Beijing stop providing missile and nuclear-weapons technologies to Iran, Libya and North Korea. Washington also asked China to respect the Chinese people's religious freedom and human rights and to meet its obligations as a WTO member by opening its markets.
The US did not allow Hu to take the lead in the Sino-US dialogue and made no concessions to him. The news released by Beijing afterwards deliberately exaggerated the results of his visit. After Hu's talks with US Defense Secretary Donald Rums-feld, for example, Beijing claimed that the US had agreed to resume military exchanges. In fact, the Pentagon had only agreed to discuss military exchanges.
The US also used Hu's visit to send some very important messages: that it will not look on from the sidelines in the event of a Chinese military attack on Tai-wan; that arms sales to Taiwan will continue and the US will also help Taipei strengthen its defense capabilities if China's military deployment against Taiwan continues to increase; and Washington hopes Beijing will resume dialogue with Taiwan at the earliest possible opportunity.
It was not the first time the US had raised these three points. They had been put clearly to Jiang at last year's APEC summit in Shanghai and US President George W. Bush's visit to Beijing in late February. This time, however, different US leaders all made the points clear to Hu.
In his meeting with US Pacific Fleet Commander Dennis Blair in Hawaii -- and with Bush and Rumsfeld in Washington -- Hu heard from them about these clear and unequivocal strategic positions. We can say for sure that Hu got a lasting impression of US determination to help Taiwan defend itself.
Jiang will also visit the US when he goes to Mexico in October to attend the APEC summit. Jiang hopes to be invited to visit Bush's Crawford ranch in Texas because both Russian President Vladimir Putin and British Prime Minister Tony Blair have been there.
If China continues to oppose the US or provoke military tensions in the Taiwan Strait, Bush will certainly not invite Jiang to Texas.
In the course of leading the war against terrorism, the US has sent troops to Central Asia, strategically encircling China. This appears to have put China in a very unfavorable international position for half a year.
If Jiang wants to use this as a pretext to stay on as chairman of the CCP's Central Military Commission and control China's foreign and security policies, that will affect Hu's takeover as well as his leadership authority.
Washington hopes that Jiang and other third-generation leaders will all step down, allowing Hu and the other fourth-generation leaders to enjoy a smooth handover and push for political reforms and democratization. Bush should not endorse any intentions Jiang may harbor to hang on to power by inviting him to his Texas home.
Parris Chang is a DPP legislator.
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