Washington, Oct. 13 (CNA) The United States should not be trying to influence the outcome of the Taiwan question and should not express an opinion as to whether reunification is the right answer for mainland China and Taiwan, said a renowned American China specialist Wednesday.
Ross Terrill, a research associate at the Fairbank Center for East Asian Studies at Harvard University, told the "Voice of America" radio station that the Taiwan question is "no longer just a matter of finishing the Chinese civil war by reuniting the country."
The transfer of Taiwan to the People's Republic of China today would change the balance of power in Asia -- something that would not have happened in 1949, stressed Terrill. He agrees with those who say Beijing's desire for reunification with Taiwan now "is a matter of strategic interest, not purely an emotional desire to reunify the motherland."
Therefore, the China expert pointed out, the United States should not be trying to influence the outcome of the Taiwan question. "Our role is not to solve the Taiwan problem, but to prevent it from being solved in the wrong way and to prevent it from being interpreted in the wrong way," said Terrill.
VOA reported that the US Congress is considering legislation that would upgrade the American military relationship with Taiwan and such an action would be sure to anger Communist China, which is considering changes in its own approach to Taiwan.
But China expert Stephen Yates said the Taiwan Security Enhancement Act being considered by Congress is not intended to change US policy. The pending bill "would provide a more specific interpretation of the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act," said the senior policy analyst at the Washington-based Heritage Foundation.
"It calls for an increase in contact between the Taiwan military and the US military, not for the purposes of creating an alliance, but for the purpose of delivering on the intent, or at least the understood intent, of the Taiwan Relations Act -- to help Taiwan be capable of defending itself," added Yates.
Yates said the bill is designed to ensure Taiwan has access to high technology weaponry, on which he believes Taiwan is going to have to rely more than conventional forces to defend itself. And this may mean that the United States could stay on the sidelines and not be directly involved in defending Taiwan, he pointed out.
"The United States intent is not to interpose itself between Taiwan and the mainland. And it's not necessarily sending a political signal to Taiwan by considering this legislation, but for our own interests finds these moves to be necessary," stressed the senior policy analyst.
However, Hong Kong journalist Willy Wo-Lap Lam cautioned the United States against upgrading the level of weapons it sells to Taiwan. Beijing has said it will not tolerate the US sale to Taiwan of high technology related to a theater missile defense, and it would hurt PRC-US relations and could spark another round of anti-American protests in Beijing and Shanghai, said the China editor of the South China Morning Post. (By Nelson Chung)
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