On the eve of a week-long trip to China and four other Asian nations, his first to the region, US Secretary of State Colin Powell has warned of the constant danger of "misjudgments" over Taiwan in Sino-US relations.
Powell made the comment in a briefing for reporters before the trip, which will also take him to Tokyo, Seoul, Hanoi and Canberra, and which will help set the stage for President George W. Bush's state visit to Beijing in October after he attends the APEC leaders' forum in Shanghai.
Speaking of China's current efforts to modernize its armed forces, Powell said the effort is "not shocking or surprising to me."
"I do not yet see efforts on the part of the Chinese military to transform themselves in a way that we should see them as a potential enemy. But at the same time, we should watch what's happening."
"And, of course, there is always the potential danger of misjudgments with respect to Taiwan, and we will always keep that in mind as well," he said. He did not elaborate.
During his trip to Beijing, Powell said he will see President Jiang Zemin (江澤民) and "all the prominent principal leaders."
Powell painted an upbeat picture of the immediate future for US-China relations. "I head to China confident that we can build a more stable, more constructive relationship with the Chinese," he said.
He cited human rights and religious freedom as points of disagreement, and referred to the April 1 forced landing of a US EP-3 reconnaissance plane on Hainan Island as a "bit of an irritation."
"I'm making it absolutely clear to the Chinese leaders that we're looking for a better relationship," he said.
The trip comes as both sides have taken pains in recent months to publicly stress the need for improvement in relations, despite the EP-3 incident; the prolonged detention of several US-linked scholars of Chinese ancestry; the rancor that attended this year's robust US arms sales package to Taiwan; President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) warm welcome in New York and Houston; former President Lee Teng-hui's (李登輝) visit to his alma mater, Cornell University; and Bush's statement that the US would do "whatever it took" to defend Taiwan against an attack by China.
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