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Newspaper says Security Act has symbolic value

Published: Nov. 1, 1999
By Taiwan Headlines staff

In an Oct. 29 editorial, the Asian Wall Street Journal described the currently pending Taiwan Security Enhancement Act as "an attempt to restore U.S. policy" in cross-strait affairs to its previous balance, which has been "knocked out of kilter" by the Clinton administration.

The act has already raised strong objections from both Beijing and the White House, even though it has as yet only passed a preliminary vote in the House International Relations Committee.

The Asian Wall Street Journal took issue with Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Stanley Roth for condemning the act as a "potentially dangerous vote" against a long-standing policy.

However, the editorial insisted that "Mr. Roth has it backward." It is the Clinton administration that skewed long-standing American policy, and the Taiwan Security Enhancement Act is in fact an attempt to restore balance.

According the Asian Wall Street Journal, the pending legislation "sends an important message to Beijing" that whatever the Clinton administration might have hinted or said to the contrary, "the U.S. will abide by its longstanding commitments to Taiwan."

The commentary describes the United States' "one China" policy that has existed since 1972 as "a delicate balancing act," but one that "worked." It offered a "useful ambiguity" to all sides, helping Taiwan to "move to a prosperous, stable democracy," while encouraging the Chinese mainland to move away from the doctrines of Mao, and allowing the U.S. to work with separate governments in Beijing and Taipei.

However, during his 1998 trip to the PRC, Clinton "upset that delicate balance" by giving his decidedly unambiguous support to Beijing's "three noes" policy - no independence for Taiwan, no two Chinas, and no membership for Taiwan in international organizations. The Clinton administration also pressured the Lee Teng-hui administration in Taipei to negotiate with Beijing over reunification.

The commentary specifically observes: "Far from defending the status quo, the Clinton administration has become an advocate for mainland China."

The results have been a destabilization across the Taiwan Strait: "As the U.S. stepped away from its commitment to Taiwan, China stepped away from its commitment to solve the reunification problem without recourse to violence."

The editorial notes that, according to Representative Ben Gilman, chairman of the House International Relations Committee, the bill was drafted in response to "Beijing's outright refusal to renounce the use of force against Taiwan."

The Taiwan Security Enhancement Act provides a corrective readjustment to this trend by reaffirming that the 1979 Taiwan Relation Act does indeed mean that the U.S. "will sell Taiwan arms" for self-defense purposes.

The act also provides for annual reports to Congress, secure communications links between the U.S. and ROC militaries, and training and exchanges of senior officers from the United States and Taiwan to promote stability in the region.

The Asian Wall Street Journal suggested that the act has important symbolic value, even though it is sure to be vetoed by Clinton if it is passed. It has already proved useful in "stirring up debate about how America should live up to its longstanding commitments to Taiwan."

The commentary concludes, "China's leaders must accept, as their predecessors did, that reunification will be a long process. The proper U.S. role should be to hold Beijing to its promise to advance the process peacefully."