Lawmakers demand government effort in lobbying Congress
Published: Nov. 9, 1999 Taipei Times
DPP legislators berated the government yesterday for its laxity in lobbying the U.S. Congress for passage of the Taiwan Security Enhance Act and demanded the recall of Stephen Chen, the ROC's chief representative in Washington, because he voiced no support for the bill.
The bill, after passing in a House of Representatives committee with surprisingly broad support, is now doomed to remain in congressional limbo unless Taiwan steps up its lobbying efforts, the legislators said.
The DPP attacked Chen and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) whom it accused of caring more about the wishes of the U.S. State Department than about Taiwan's security.
"The foreign ministry claims it wants security, but it doesn't want to lobby for the security enhancement act out of respect for the wishes of the State Department," said DPP lawmaker Parris Chang, who led the group of legislators to the ministry yesterday.
The ministry has said it is concerned about Taiwan's security and appreciates the bill, but critics have said it has taken a hands-off approach.
Some ministry officials have claimed the Clinton administration has asked them specifically not to support the act to appease mainland China, and that they have in turn told the Taiwan Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO) to keep quiet.
Others say TECRO fears losing hard-won periodic visits to the White House.
>Whatever the case may be, Taiwan needs to make its case clear or support will die quickly, Stephen Yates, a senior researcher at the Heritage Foundation a conservative Washington think-tank, told the Taipei Times yesterday.
"Any delay in passing the (act) will take the wind out of its sails," Yates said.
While passing smoothly through the House's International Relations Committee by a vote of 32-6, the bill dragged to a standstill last week before the end of the House's fall session.
The only way it could work its way back on to the agenda is if Taiwan does more to promote it, Yates said. "People who support the bill are going to need the help of outside people to keep the issue warm, especially in January and February [when Congress resumes]; you would need conferences to rev up the momentum again," he said.
"The government here needs to take a clear position on the Taiwan Security Enhancement Act," Yates said, adding that if the government didn't have a clear position, it still needed to figure out how it could more effectively communicate what type of military relationship between Taiwan and the U.S. would suit its interests.
"Right now they [the government] need to regroup and restrategize," Yates said.
Yates added, however, that he thought it was clear that someone in the government had already made a decision to quieten everyone and not support the bill because it was "difficult, complex or dangerous for the government here to take a clear position."
Military experts, on the other hand, said that while the contents of the act are desirable, it is understandable that the government thinks the way it does.
"As for military exchanges [which the bill calls for], the Pentagon is already doing that. The question is whether you should talk about it or not. It's an issue of perception," said Major General Tyson Fu, director of the Institute for Strategic Studies at the Armed Forces University. "If you are doing it, then why should you speak about it?"
With mainland China watching Taiwan closely, it is looking for any excuse to raise Taiwan-related issues, military analysts agreed.
"The government is in a very subtle situation," said Chung Chien, a professor at the Armed Forces University.
Chung said the government would rather be like a "duck swimming" - which from above the waterline appears to be making no effort while paddling furiously out of sight - and push real issues like arms sales behind the scenes.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
