US FOREIGN-POLICY EXPERTS CALL FOR DEFENSE OF TAIWAN
Washington, Aug. 24 (CNA) The United States should declare unambiguously that it will come to Taiwan's defense in the event of an attack or a blockade against the island, said a joint statement released by two American think tanks on Tuesday.
The statement, co-authored by the Heritage Foundation and the Project for the New American Century, was issued amid recent escalation of tension across the Taiwan Strait over the "special state-to-state relationship" theory.
Twenty-three leading US conservatives and foreign-policy experts, including heads of the two Washington-based think tanks, Edwin J. Feulner Jr. and William Kristol, signed the statement.
Other signatories included former US Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, former Assistant Secretary of State Paul Wolfowitz, and former Assistant Secretary of Defense Richard L. Armitage.
The statement said communist China has continued to threaten military action against the democratically-elected government of Taiwan over the "special state-to-state" fracas.
"It has therefore become essential that the United States make every effort to deter any form of (mainland) Chinese intimidation of the Republic of China on Taiwan and declare unambiguously that it will come to Taiwan's defense in the event of an attack or a blockade against Taiwan, including against the offshore islands of Matsu and Kinmen," the statement said.
It continued that the United States should also make clear that while it is prepared to accept any resolution regarding Taiwan's future status to which both sides voluntarily agree, the future of Taiwan must reflect the will of the people of Taiwan as expressed through their duly elected government.
"If the people of Taiwan do not want to be united with the mainland until China becomes a democracy, the United States has a moral obligation and strategic imperative to honor that determination," the document said.
It warned that efforts by the Clinton administration to pressure Taiwan to cede its sovereignty and to adopt Beijing's understanding of "one China" are dangerous and directly at odds with US strategic interests, past US policy and American democratic ideals.
"Failure to stand by Taiwan and live up to the spirit and letter of the Taiwan Relations Act in the present crisis can only exacerbate tensions and may well lead to serious miscalculation by Beijing," the statement noted.
It further said the time for strategic and moral "ambiguity" with regard to Taiwan has passed. "We urge the administration and leaders in Congress to make a clear statement of America's commitment to the people of Taiwan," the statement said, adding that such a commitment is consonant with US national interests and ideals, and will help ensure peace in East Asia.
A Heritage Foundation news release issued on the same day also stressed that the Clinton administration and Congress should dispel the uncertainty that has clouded the US position in the weeks since ROC President Lee Teng-hui declared in an interview with a German radio station in July that mainland China and Taiwan should interact on a "state-to-state" basis.
Other former US officials who signed the statement included former Central Intelligence Agency Director R. James Woolsey and former Ambassador to the United Nations Jeane J. Kirkpatrick. (By Jay Chen and Sofia Wu)
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