The US government should forgo all references to “one China” in the context of Taiwan-related issues and policies, because the term is imprecise and misleading as Taiwan was never part of China, former American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) director William Stanton said yesterday.
Stanton, who headed the AIT’s Taipei office from 2009 to 2012, made the appeal during a speech on Taiwan-China policy in the US at a Taichung luncheon, which was organized by the Tai-Yang Cultural and Educational Foundation.
Taiwan was never part of China and the use of “one China,” which has always meant something different to Washington and Beijing, is inaccurate, misleading and confusing, Stanton said, adding that Washington should no longer say that it has a “one China” policy, as “that does not mean anything anymore.”
Photo: Chang Jui-chen, Taipei Times
The US government should also refrain from mentioning the Three Joint Communiques “as if they were the Bible,” Stanton said.
The first communique had the facts wrong and the third was effectively repudiated by the “six assurances” given to Taiwan by then-US president Ronald Reagan in 1982, he said.
Another problem is that Beijing and Washington have interpreted the first communique differently, Stanton added.
“They [the Chinese] use a different verb to say we acknowledge the Chinese position and they say cheng ren [承認, “agree with”], which has different meanings,” he said, referring to a section in the first part of the 1982 US-China joint communique that says that the US “acknowledged the Chinese position that there is but one China and Taiwan is part of China.”
Washington should initiate, but not necessarily advertise, exchanges of high-level officials between Taiwan and the US as called for in the Taiwan Travel Act, which was signed into law by US President Donald Trump in March, Stanton said.
However, Taiwan should carefully weigh the potential risk of such visits, he said.
Stanton was wary about a potential visit by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to Washington, which some seem to be bandying about lately, including Joseph Bosco, former China country director in the office of the US secretary of defense, in an opinion piece on Monday last week in the political newspaper The Hill.
“If we are going to provoke China, it should be [for something] of lasting importance to Taiwan. I think that is the view of many people,” Stanton said, adding that Tsai should decide how much she would like to push for such a visit.
Asked on Tuesday last week to comment on Bosco’s piece, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied that Tsai planned to visit Washington, but did not elaborate.
A domestically developed “suicide drone,” also known as a loitering munition, would be tested and evaluated in July, and could enter mass production next year, Taiwan’s weapons developer said on Wednesday. The yet-to-be-named drone was among nine drone models unveiled by the National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST) on Tuesday. The drone has been dubbed the “Taiwanese switchblade” by Chinese-language media, due to its similarity to the US-made AeroVironment Switchblade 300, which has been used by Ukraine in counterattacks during Russia’s invasion. It has a range of more than 10km, a flight time of more than 15 minutes, and an electro-optical
OFFLINE: People who do not wish to register can get the money from select ATMs using their bank card, ID number and National Health Insurance card number Online registration for NT$6,000 (US$196.32) cash payments drawn from last year’s tax surplus is to open today for eligible people whose national ID or permanent residency number ends in either a zero or a one, the Ministry of Finance said on Monday. Officials from the ministry revealed which days Taiwanese and eligible foreigners would be able to register for the cash payments at a joint news conference with the Ministry of Digital Affairs. Online registration is to open tomorrow for those whose number ends in a two or three; on Friday for those that end in a four or five: on Saturday
Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) officials are investigating why a Starlux Airlines flight to Penang, Malaysia, returned to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport nearly two hours after takeoff yesterday morning. The airline said in a statement that Flight JX721 to Penang took off from Taoyuan airport at 9:20am. “After the dashboard showed a signal of an abnormality in the hydraulic system, the captain followed standard operating procedures and returned the flight to Taoyuan airport for safety precautions,” the airline said, adding that the flight landed safely at the airport at 11:04am. The airline arranged for the passengers to have lunch after the flight landed and
WORKING UP AN APPETITE: Sales at the Rueifong Night Market surged 20 to 30 percent, while seats at Liouhe Night Market were packed until 1am, market officials said South Korean pop band Blackpink’s concerts over the weekend in Kaohsiung helped draw large crowds to local night markets, the Kaohsiung City Government said yesterday. The two concerts on Saturday and Sunday at Kaohsiung National Stadium drew more than 90,000 people. The city government offered NT$50 vouchers to spend locally to concertgoers who showed their ticket stubs. Liouhe Night Market (六合夜市) management committee head Chuang Chi-chang (莊其章) said that crowds over the weekend surged at about 10pm and the market remained packed until 1:30am. “Almost all the seats were filled,” Chuang said. Night market stall owners had stocked up in expectation of an increased number
RSS