• Military

• WMD Menu                           

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

U.S. congressmen call for abolition of 'one China' policy

ROC Central News Agency

2008-02-21 17:41:14

    Washington, Feb. 20 (CNA) A group of nine members of the U.S. Congress sent a joint letter to President George W. Bush Tuesday calling on him to abolish what they called an "obsolete" "one China" policy, which they said would make China incorrectly estimate the situation.

    In the letter, the congressmen stressed that the "one China" policy was drawn up during the Cold War. As the policy implies that Taiwan is a part of China, it offers Beijing an excuse to oppose any defensive arms supply by the United States to Taiwan and an opportunity to control Taiwan and its nearby important marine routes, the letter said.

    As long as the United States continues to acknowledge Beijing's claim that Taiwan is part of China, the Beijing government will keep on raising objections to United States' arms supply to Taiwan, and its protection of Taiwan's democracy," the congressmen said.

    They cited an example as saying that China refused recently two American ships entry to Hong Kong to evade a storm as a way to show its displeasure about America's promise to guarantee Taiwan's security and President Bush's awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibet that the Chinese government sees as a separatist.

    Today, the stability in the West Pacific has been maintained not because of America's "one China" policy, but rather because of the Taiwan Relations Act abided by the U.S. government, the congressmen continued.

    It's unthinkable that the American government still adopts a policy enacted in the 1970s during the 21st century, they said, warning that the United States will face increasing tension in the region unless it updates its "one China" policy.

    In addition, they said, it would cause disastrous results due to the complicated messages transmitted by the U.S. to China and Taiwan when the United States adopts a "one China" policy while abiding by the Taiwan Relations Act.

    Being a vanguard for freedom, the U.S. should set an example by insisting on its beliefs, values and principles since it has urged China to play a responsible role, the congressmen stressed.

    The nine congressmen are Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.), Thomas Tancredo (R-Colo.), Thaddeus Mccotter (R-Mich.), Steve Chabot (R-Ohio), Scott Garrett (R-N.J.) , Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) , John Culberson (R- Texas), Mark Souder (R-Ind.) and Collin Peterson (D-Minn.).

(By Jorge Liu and Elisa Kao)

ENDITEM /c.j.