Washington, July 27 (CNA) Twenty-six US senators sent a joint letter to the White House on Tuesday, warning the Clinton administration not to pressure Taiwan to renounce its recent statement on relations with mainland China.
The senators included 25 Republicans and one independent. The letter, initiated by Jesse Helms (R-N.C.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations committee, on July 21 won the endorsement of all Republican heavyweights in the Senate, including Senate President pro tempore Strom Thurmond, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott and Senate Majority Whip Don Nickles.
Helms initiated the letter on the same day that the Clinton administration sent emissaries to Taipei and Beijing, respectively, in an effort to defuse possible escalation of cross-strait tension over Republic of China President Lee Teng-hui's definition of cross-strait ties as a "special state-to-state relationship."
The senators pushed US President Bill Clinton to express support for the democratically elected ROC president and Taiwan people's rights to pursue a higher international profile as well as to ask Beijing through his envoys to renounce the use of force against Taiwan.
"Rather than appeasing China and seeking to pressure Taiwan, your emissaries this week should remind the Beijing government that the US decision to establish diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China was based upon the expectation that the future of Taiwan will be determined by peaceful means," the senators said in the letter.
They went on to say that the US emissaries should also reiterate that the United States will stand by its legal and moral defense obligations to Taiwan.
"Your emissaries should tell both sides that while US policy does not take a stand on the exact nature of Taiwan's status, we fully support democratically-elected President Lee and the people of Taiwan in their search for greater international status," the senators stressed.
Furthermore, the senators said they hope Clinton's emissaries will reiterate the call by the US government and Congress that the PRC leaders publicly renounce the use of force, or threat to use force, against Taiwan.
They pointed out that although the issues between Taiwan and mainland China are complex, the simple truth is that Taiwan is a democracy and a friend of the United States, while the PRC is neither. "Our policy should be based on this vital distinction."
President Lee's "state-to-state" definition of Taiwan-mainland China ties has drawn furious reaction from Beijing. To ease possible tension in the Taiwan Strait, the Clinton administration sent Stanley Roth, assistance secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, and Kenneth Lieberthal, senior director of Asian affairs division under the National Security Council, to visit Beijing last week, while dispatching Bush to Taipei.
(By Jay Chen and Sofia Wu)
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
