The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday said it would look into a recent comment made by US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates that does not appear to be in line with the longstanding US position that it does “not support” Taiwan’s independence. Gates used the word “oppose.”
At a question-and-answer session during a security conference in Singapore on Saturday, Gates was asked by Daniel Fung, a Chinese representative, whether the US had failed to abide by the 1982 Shanghai Communique’s commitment to halt arms sale to Taiwan and had failed to address China’s concerns on the matter.
Gates responded by saying the US provides defensive capability to Taiwan, which underscored “our continued opposition to independence for Taiwan” and that perhaps the time would come when the independence issue “will go away” because of improvements in cross-strait relations.
Department of North American Affairs Director-General Harry Tseng (曾厚仁) said the ministry “will look into” the matter when asked by reporters whether Gates’ comments differed from the US’ longstanding position that Washington uses the words “not support” Taiwan’s independence and that the US refrains from expressing its position on whether Taiwan will move toward independence or unification with China.
Before the question was raised by reporters, Tseng told the routine press briefing that the US stance on Taiwan independence “remained unchanged,” citing Gates as saying in a speech to the Singapore conference: “The United States has for years demonstrated in a very public way that we do not support independence for Taiwan.”
Since former US president Bill Clinton’s administration, the US has said it does “not support” rather than it “opposes” Taiwan’s independence, Tseng said.
“‘Not supporting’ is not tantamount to opposing [Taiwan independence]. US officials have made this clear in the past,” Tseng said.
The ministry also welcomed the US reaffirmation of its policy to sell defensive weapons to Taiwan despite Chinese opposition, but said it would watch to see if there would be any impact on US arms sales to Taiwan.
As for visits by members of the US Congress, Tseng said a reduction in visits in recent years could be attributed to structural reasons and did not indicate weakening support for Taiwan.
The government’s policy toward the US was not based on how many members of Congress have visited Taiwan, but how much support has been obtained, he said.
“An overly quantitative assessment would take the issue out of context,” he said.
The arrival of senators Dianne Feinstein, Mark Udall and Kay Hagan in Taipei last week marked the first visit by US senators since President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) took office in May 2008.
There are fewer controversies in Taiwan, it is not that pressing for US politicians to visit, he said, adding that they continue to face pressure from China, which is why they have been trying to keep their visits to Taipei low-profile.
Tseng said the three senators — the two women are Democrats and Udall is a Republican — had planned to just visit China, but they added Taiwan to their itinerary because of the efforts of Taiwan’s representative office in Washington.
The group flew directly from Shanghai to Taipei, Tseng said.
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