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Taiwan should keep hands off Washington's China policy: ex-premier

ROC Central News Agency

2017/01/19 13:24:27

Washington, Jan. 18 (CNA) Former Premier Yu Shyi-kun (游錫堃) said Wednesday that Taiwan should not get involved in U.S. relations with China, and should instead ask Washington to stick to the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act and its "Six Assurances" to Taiwan.

"The one-China policy is a policy of the United States, not Taiwan's," Yu said at a press conference in Washington. "We expect the United States to fully implement the Taiwan Relations Act and the 'Six Assurances.'"

He was responding to questions about a debate in the United States about its one-China policy as U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is ready to take power in the White House after being sworn in on Friday.

Yu arrived in the U.S. capital late Tuesday at the head of Taiwan's delegation to the Trump inauguration.

The policy direction of the incoming Trump administration remains to be seen, even though President Tsai Ing-wen's (蔡英文) telephone call to Trump in early December was helpful to Taiwan's international profile, Yu said to reporters at Twin Oaks, the residence of the Republic of China ambassador to the United States until Jan. 1, 1979.

On that date, the Carter administration formally established diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China and official ties with Taiwan were severed.

The U.S. Congress passed the Taiwan Relations Act in April that year to govern unofficial relations with Taiwan, including provisions that say the United States should provide defensive weapons to help Taiwan defend itself.

In 1982, then-President Ronald Reagan conveyed the "Six Assurances" to Taiwan, promising not to set a date for ending arms sales to Taiwan and not to force Taiwan to enter into negotiations with China, among other things.

Also on Wednesday, Yu and other members of the delegation called on members of Congress, including Ed Royce (R-CA) and Mo Brooks (R-AL).

Yu's delegation consists of lawmakers and other politicians of Taiwan's major political parties, including Taichung Mayor Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍), Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, Ko Chih-en (柯志恩) of the Kuomintang, Lim Tshiong-tso (林昶佐) of the New Power Party and Chen Yi-chieh (陳怡潔) of the People First Party.

(By Tony Liao and Rita Cheng)
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