| 12.23.2004 The New York Times Taiwan Plays Down China - U.S. 'Land Mine' Remark By REUTERS, Published: December 23, 2004 Filed at 2:35 a.m. ET TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan played down on Thursday remarks by a senior U.S. official who described the island as the biggest land mine in Sino-U.S. ties and said Washington was not required to come to Taiwan's defense if attacked by China. The comments by U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage raised suspicions in Taiwan that Washington may be leaning toward Beijing in the bitter dispute between the mainland and the island China claims as a renegade province. Premier Yu Shyi-kun and Foreign Minister Mark Chen tried to ease any anxiety, saying U.S. policy was unchanged toward democratic Taiwan, which has aspirations for sovereignty but which China has said it will invade if it declares independence. ``Armitage was very clear. U.S. policy toward Taiwan has not changed,'' the China Times quoted Yu as saying. The United States broke off diplomatic ties with Taiwan in 1979 and recognized China, but remains the island's biggest arms supplier and strongest ally with treaty obligations under the Taiwan Relations Act to help Taipei to defend itself. However, Armitage's remarks to the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States on Dec. 10, and picked up by Taiwan media this week, hinted at a possible shift. ``We have the requirement with the Taiwan Relations Act to keep sufficient force in the Pacific to be able to deter attack; we are not required to defend,'' Armitage said, adding that it was up to the U.S. Congress to decide if America should go to war. U.S. State department spokesman Richard Boucher said on Wednesday Armitage had restated U.S. policy in familiar terms. LESS AMBIGUITY Wary of being dragged by Taipei into a conflict with Beijing, a nuclear power, Washington has become increasingly concerned by what it sees as independence-leaning moves by the government of Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian. Mixed with that concern is mounting frustration that Taiwan appears to be solely counting on U.S. help to fend off China -- to the point that Taipei is dragging its feet over a huge $18 billion arms deal offered by Washington, analysts said. Thus the United States has clarified its position in the past year, dropping some of the strategic ambiguity that had characterised diplomatic relations since China and Taiwan split at the end of a civil war in 1949. For example, Secretary of State Colin Powell said in October that Taiwan did not enjoy sovereignty as a nation and spoke of eventual reunification with China, departing from a longstanding U.S. policy of taking no position on the outcome. Armitage said he agreed with Beijing's 'one China' policy, and analysts noted he used a stronger wording than the past ``acknowledgement'' of China's claim over Taiwan. When asked where the land mines lay in U.S.-China relations, Armitage told PBS: ``I would say Taiwan. Taiwan is one. It's probably the biggest.'' ``The United States hopes to manage the situation in the Taiwan Strait and not let it spin out of control,'' said Lin Bih-jaw, professor of diplomacy at National Chengchi University. ``It wants to avoid misinterpretation and miscalculation.'' While Washington may be leaning toward China, needing its help on North Korea and other problems, the United States will still retain some flexibility over the Taiwan issue, Lin said. ``The United States wants to reserve the final decision-making power ... They want to maintain some level of ambiguity, though it's clear this ambiguity is smaller and smaller,'' he said. China claims self-governing Taiwan as part of its territory and threatens to invade if the island moves toward statehood. It is deeply suspicious of Chen's plans to adopt a new constitution by 2008, seeing it as a move toward independence. With the Chinese parliament poised this weekend to debate an anti-secession law aimed at preventing Taiwan independence, analysts said Armitage's comments put more pressure on Taiwan President Chen to maintain the political status quo. |
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