Washington, Aug. 4 (CNA): The Washington Post urged Wednesday the Clinton administration to abandon its policy of "strategic ambiguity" toward Taiwan so as to enhance the chance of deterring war across the Taiwan Straits, securing peace and even fostering good relations with Beijing.
The influential American newspaper wrote in an editorial titled "Taiwan Tensions" that in the past few days Communist China has illegally seized a Taiwanese ship, sent jet fighters provocatively across the Taiwan Straits, repeatedly hurled threats at Taiwan and its elected president and test-fired a new ballistic missile built in part with stolen U.S. technology.
But the Clinton administration response to all these has been, for the most part, to chide Taiwan and make soothing noises toward Beijing. In part, this may reflect the administration's dismay that the Republic of China President Lee Teng-hui reformulated his country's policy toward mainland China without winning Washington's advanced approval, noted the newspaper.
The editorial said the administration's unhappiness is understandable -- but so, unfortunately, is Mr. Lee's behavior. "It was President Clinton, after all, who chose China as the venue for endorsing a new and, from Taiwan's perspective, disadvantageous U.S. policy toward Taiwan. That, along with Mr. Clinton's Beijing-centered policy overall, hasn't fostered trusting relations between the United States and Taiwan."
The Clinton administration isn't responding out of pique; it believes an accommodating attitude toward Beijing is the best way to maintain peace in a dangerous part of the world. Mr. Clinton wants to develop a "strategic constructive partnership" with mainland China's regime, and "to do so he treats friendly democracies in the region -- Taiwan, South Korea, even Japan -- as if they were of secondary importance," added the editorial.
The Washington Post pointed out that "That's why Mr. Clinton accepts China's fiction that Taiwan is not a separate state. That's why he accepts as legitimate China's parallel views of Taiwan and Hong Kong, even though Hong Kong -- now incorporated into China -- was a colony and never a free entity."
Mr. Clinton said recently that Beijing has made clear "a sensitivity to the different system that exists on Taiwan, and a willingness to find ways to accommodate it, as they did in working with Hong Kong, and perhaps, even going beyond that."
But the people of Hong Kong were given no say before being turned over by Britain to the mercies of Beijing's dictators. Mr. Clinton should say that such an outcome would be acceptable for Taiwan only with the explicit consent of the Taiwanese people, stressed the editorial.
Instead, the editorial said, the United States maintains a policy of "strategic ambiguity," warning Communist China against the use of force "without explicitly promising to defend Taiwan against Chinese attack."
The Washington Post concluded that "This murkiness is designed to discourage Taiwan from recklessly declaring independence. The danger, though, is that China, rather than Taiwan, will misjudge U.S. steadfastness. In the long run, there will be more chance of deterring war, securing peace and even fostering good relations with China if the United States opts for clarity, not ambiguity, in showing support for its true friends in the region."
(by Nelson Chung)
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