What is a communique worth? The answer is: Practically nothing.
"Communique" in diplomatic terms simply means an official announcement. It usually follows an officially hosted visit. Communiques record the date, venue, events and agreements between the host and visitors.
The highly touted Shanghai Communique of Feb. 28, 1972 was an announcement following the conclusion of then US president Richard Nixon's visit to China. A communique is just that, an official announcement, which does not have the force and enforceability of a treaty.
Recently, two defeated pan-blue camp candidates visited China and signed some accords to which no one attaches significance. Their sole purpose was to undermine President Chen shui-bian's (
They knew that whatever they signed and announced as a communique meant nothing, as long as Chen adhered to his principles, and the people of Taiwan insisted on their freedom in a democratic society.
Just imagine if Al Gore had gone to Russia or Cuba to sign an agreement after losing in a close contest to George W. Bush in 2000. It would be even worse if he chose to go to North Korea or Iran. But the results of his visit would become communiques.
So, what is a communique worth? Nothing! After all, it is simply an agreed upon text between the host and visiting dignitaries. It does not require the consent of either nation's congress or parliament, or reflect the view of the people.
In dealing with China, other countries have used words such as "respects and fully understands," "takes note," and "admits," but rarely "recognizes." Even if the word "recognize" were used in a communique it means practically nothing as it neither binds other countries, nor has the enforce-ability of a treaty. Anything could be said to gain economic access to, or aid from, China.
In fact, any favorable statement can be extracted from poor countries, or from disgruntled politicians, provided China offers them enough money or favors.
Unlike a treaty, a communique is not ratified by referendum, congress, parliament, or a legislative body independent of the administration per the specifications of a constitutional process.
Furthermore, treaties are enforceable internationally, but not communiques. Even so, the Shanghai Communique was carefully worded from the US point of view.
With regard to Taiwan, the communique states in section 12: "The United States acknowledges that all Chinese on either side of the Taiwan Strait maintain there is but one China and that Taiwan is a part of China. The United States Government does not challenge that position."
The word "acknowledges" was deliberately used as opposed to "recognizes." In other words, the US will not argue with what China has said, but has itself never recognized Taiwan as a part of China.
The content and language of the Shanghai Communique was never rectified by the US Congress. But the recognition of China, which does not include Taiwan or the Pescadores, was ratified by Congress and took effect on Jan. 1, 1979.
At the same time, the 96th Congress enacted public laws 96-8, known as the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA), which took effect on the same day. TRA Section 3314 (2) defines the term "Taiwan" to include the islands of Formosa and the Pescadores, but made no mention of Kinmen and Matsu, the two islands just off the Chinese coast.
The TRA took effect on Jan. 1, 1979, but it was not incorporated into the US Code until April 10, 1979. The new Chapter 48 of the US Code Title 22 is a set of laws that governs US relations with Taiwan through the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT).
The goal of the TRA is to maintain the status quo as it existed prior to Jan. 1, 1979. It has done an extraordinary job of separating the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. The stability of the Taiwan Strait benefits not only Taiwan, but also its immediate neighbors, South Korea and Japan, as well as the entire international community.
The Taipei Flight Information Region handles some 1,000 flights daily from various nations. More than 500 vessels navigate their way through the Taiwan Strait every day.
Every US president since Jimmy Carter has obeyed the laws specified by the TRA, no matter what they said after each visit to China. These so-called "officially unofficial relations" persist to this day, to the extent that they obligated President to send aircraft carriers toward Taiwan when China's carried out provocative missile tests near Taiwan in 1996.
Why would a US President say one thing while visiting China and something entirely different later on? Easy -- whatever the President's own view of China, it is his or her duty to carry out the laws of the land, and that includes the Taiwan Relations Act.
Taiwan experts such as Harvey Feldman (a key architect of the TRA) and John Tkacik Jr. (the author of the book Taiwan Dependence: The Strategic Dimension of Cross-Strait Trade and Investment) are the people in the know. They have stated clearly and repeatedly that the US never recognized Taiwan as a part of China. The US acknowledged what China said but never recognized it.
By now, it should be known throughout the world that Taiwan is an independent country in every sense of the word with its own defined territory, democratic system of government, passport, currency, arms forces and all the other trappings of a sovereign nation.
Best of all, it is a modern and democratic country and its people enjoy a wide spectrum of freedoms that even US citizens would envy. The Taiwanese press and mass media enjoy more liberty than their US counterparts, and freely criticize President Chen with impunity, on a daily basis.
The separate visits to China by the two disgruntled pan-blue politicians were a blatant display of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" psychology. Public dissatisfaction of their actions was evident in polls conducted after the visits, and culminated in the failure of the KMT and PFP to win a pan-blue majority in the National Assembly.
The 23 million people of Taiwan should not allow a few politicians who visit China to decide their fate. A communique works only if the people of Taiwan back it. Since Taiwan is already a full-fledged democracy, only the Taiwanese people have the right to decide their own future.
Now, referendums is are part of the newly amended Constitution. The people of Taiwan should take advantage of that change to decide their future for themselves -- after all, the principle of self-determination is clearly embedded in the charter of the United Nations.
Lin Yu-chong is a professor of physiology at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu.
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