A senior Bush administration official on Wednesday registered Washington's opposition to Taiwan's development of offensive missiles that could hit Chinese targets, but again urged the Legislative Yuan to approve a defense budget including the weapons systems offered by US President George W. Bush when he took office in 2001.
Senior director for East Asian affairs at the National Security Council Dennis Wilder said that any offensive capability on either side of the Taiwan Strait is "destabilizing and therefore not in the interest of peace and security."
Wilder made the comments in answer to a question about the Ministry of Defense's announcement last week that it had simulated a battle using short-range and cruise missiles that could hit military targets inside China. While the ministry described the missiles, which are still in the conceptual stage, as defensive, some observers consider them offensive weapons systems.
The issue came up at a press briefing on this week's summit between Bush and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Washington, which will include a discussion about Taiwan.
"When you ask me whether I'm for offensive missiles, I'm not for offensive missiles on the Chinese side of the Strait, and not for offensive missiles on the Taiwan side of the Strait," Wilder said.
Abe arrives
Abe was slated to arrive in Washington yesterday, joining Bush at a "small informal dinner in the private quarters of the White House" that evening.
Today, the two leaders are scheduled to travel to the presidential retreat in Camp David, Maryland, for a morning of discussions, press briefings and lunch.
It is Abe's first visit to Washington since his election last year.
The situation in the Taiwan Strait and China's military buildup against Taiwan would be one issue that would figure in the talks, Wilder said.
"Because of the large Chinese military buildup opposite Taiwan, and their deployment of a lot of missiles, their deployment of a lot of sophisticated technologies, we all have a concern that some in Beijing may at some point be tempted to coercion," he said.
Japan and the US share a common goal, to "persuade Beijing from ever being tempted down that path.
Therefore, we both seek to engage the Chinese in a way that keeps the Chinese on the path of diplomacy in their relations with Taiwan, that keeps the Chinese looking at positive ways to interact with Taiwan, and not negative ways," he said, noting that Washington also has urged Chinese leaders to talk directly with President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and his government.
"I think the Japanese share that feeling. Therefore I'm sure that the topic of Taiwan and its future is always a part of our discussions with the Japanese, because as like-minded democracies we see democratic development on Taiwan as a positive thing, and we want to help them keep that democracy vibrant and alive," he said.
Arms bill deadlock
Regarding the arms bill now bottled up in the Legislative Yuan, Wilder said the US wants the legislature to move ahead with it.
"We think that given the situation today across the Strait, that the people of Taiwan need to make a serious and sustained commitment to their defense needs. Therefore, we would hope that there would be, across party lines, in Taiwan a decision to move forward on increasing defense spending that would allow them to boost capacity," Wilder said.
"We think that developing defensive capabilities is the right thing to do," he said.
Also see story:
Bush hosts Japan's Abe for talks on North Korea
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and “capital punishment.” They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
A Taiwanese woman on Sunday was injured by a small piece of masonry that fell from the dome of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican during a visit to the church. The tourist, identified as Hsu Yun-chen (許芸禎), was struck on the forehead while she and her tour group were near Michelangelo’s sculpture Pieta. Hsu was rushed to a hospital, the group’s guide to the church, Fu Jing, said yesterday. Hsu was found not to have serious injuries and was able to continue her tour as scheduled, Fu added. Mathew Lee (李世明), Taiwan’s recently retired ambassador to the Holy See, said he met
The Shanlan Express (山嵐號), or “Mountain Mist Express,” is scheduled to launch on April 19 as part of the centennial celebration of the inauguration of the Taitung Line. The tourism express train was renovated from the Taiwan Railway Corp’s EMU500 commuter trains. It has four carriages and a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Lion Travel is arranging railway tours for the express service. Several news outlets were invited to experience the pilot tour on the new express train service, which is to operate between Hualien Railway Station and Chihshang (池上) Railway Station in Taitung County. It would also be the first tourism service
A BETRAYAL? It is none of the ministry’s business if those entertainers love China, but ‘you cannot agree to wipe out your own country,’ the MAC minister said Taiwanese entertainers in China would have their Taiwanese citizenship revoked if they are holding Chinese citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said. Several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑) and Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜), earlier this month on their Weibo (微博) accounts shared a picture saying that Taiwan would be “returned” to China, with tags such as “Taiwan, Province of China” or “Adhere to the ‘one China’ principle.” The MAC would investigate whether those Taiwanese entertainers have Chinese IDs and added that it would revoke their Taiwanese citizenship if they did, Chiu told the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper
RSS