CHENEY'S REMARKS SHOW NO CHANGE IN U.S. CROSS-STRAIT POLICY
2004-04-16 17:18:12
Taipei, April 16 (CNA) An official of the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said Friday that there has been no change in the United States' cross-Taiwan Strait policy.
MAC Vice Chairman Chen Ming-tong made the remarks in comments on U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney's speech in mainland China a day earlier.
Cheney, speaking at the elite Fudan University in Shanghai, affirmed U.S. arms sales to Taiwan despite Beijing's lobbying to stop them, although he said that the U.S. does not approve of Taiwan independence and believes instead in the "one China" policy.
Chen said that Washington's "one China" principle is different from Beijing's "one China" principle in that the former is based on the three communiques between Washington and Beijing and the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA), while the latter believes Taiwan is a renegade province.
Although Beijing wants the U.S. to stop its arms sales to Taiwan, Cheney said that under the TRA, the U.S. is "obligated to provide Taiwan with the capacity to defend herself should that become necessary."
On Cheney's remarks that the U.S. hopes both sides of the Taiwan Strait can restart their stalled dialogue, Chen stressed that Taiwan also hopes that this can be the case.
But he said that "everyone knows" that whether cross-strait talks can begin hinge on the mainland. If Beijing is willing to talk, then it will come to the negotiation table. However, he added, it is probably still making an overall assessment after Taiwan's March 20 presidential election that saw President Chen Shui-bian -- who BNijing dislikes -- win another four-year term.
(By Lilian Wu)
ENDITEM/J
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
