• Military

• WMD Menu                           

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

• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

No surprises in Obama's visit to China: top U.S. envoy

ROC Central News Agency

2009/11/24 17:35:53
Taipei, Nov. 24 (CNA) The top U.S. envoy to Taiwan on Tuesday rebutted some local media's interpretation of U.S. President Barack Obama's Nov. 14-18 trip to China, emphasizing that there were no surprises from Obama's visit and that U.S. policy toward Taiwan will not change.

"I don't think there are any surprises and I think some of the press coverage was exaggerated and was off point, " said William Stanton, director of the Taipei-based American Institute in Taiwan (AIT).

He made the remarks at the American Chamber of Commerce's annual general meeting, saying that the joint statement issued by the United States and China during Obama's visit is entirely consistent with past joint statements.

In response to comments that the joint statement did not mention the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) , which requires the U.S. to provide Taiwan defensive arms, Stanton said the U.S. never had a joint statement with mainland China which included reference to the TRA for this simple reason: " If we had insisted, we wouldn't have had a joint statement. That's sort of understandable." He noted, however, that Obama did reiterate in a press conference after his meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao about the U.S.

commitment to the TRA and made clear that U.S. policy toward Taiwan has not changed.

Turning to economic and trade relations between the U.S. and Taiwan, Stanton said that the U.S.-Taiwan Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) has been the main vehicle for advancing the bilateral economic relationship and that the U.S. is looking forward to taking part in the long-delayed TIFA meeting early in the new year.

The top U.S. envoy to Taiwan also vowed to continue to work toward the goal of Taiwan's eventual participation in the U.S. Visa Waiver Program. He praised the Taiwanese government's recent decision to eventually require passport applicants to make a personal appearance. Applicants can appear in person on a voluntary basis starting next spring in an effort to strengthen the integrity of Taiwan's passports.

"This is the first step toward a universal, mandatory personal appearance requirement, which is a prerequisite for our visa waiver program," Stanton said. "We hope that Taiwan will move quickly to put into place the legislation and regulations necessary to complete this important step. It will go a long way toward enhancing the security of the Taiwan passport." Asked whether he finds the inclusion of Taiwan into the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement (TPP) talks possible, Stanton said that is not a problem since the TPP is open to economies of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and Taiwan is part of the economic bloc.

"I don't know anyone or any other country in the world beyond the U.S. that so forcefully and consistently stands up for the inclusion of Taiwan. It's an important economy and it's a democracy and it certainly deserves to be included in such organizations, " Stanton said.

Obama announced on Nov. 14 that the U.S. will join the TPP, the only trans-Pacific free trade agreement that connects Asian and American trade. The TPP now groups Singapore, Chile, New Zealand and Brunei, and besides the U.S., three other countries - Peru, Australia and Vietnam - are also in talks to join the agreement.

(By Rachel Chan) Enditem/cs