Nashville Taiwanese Association 20010811
Welcome to Nashville Taiwanese Association
“Don’t sacrifice Taiwan”
KenganYoung
Professor Emeritus, State University of New York
October 30, 2004
Secretary of State Collin Powell, during a recent visit to China, provoked
a diplomatic dispute with his statements that Taiwan is not a sovereign state
and that the U.S. is seeking to bring about Taiwan’s reunification with China.
These comments went beyond the Shanghai communiqué of l972 in which the
U.S. acknowledged, but not accepting, the Chinese position that “there is but
one China and that Taiwan is a part of China.” They seem to have contradicted
President Reagan’s assurances to Taiwan of 1982 that Washington “will not alter
its position regarding sovereignty over Taiwan and will not exert pressure on
Taiwan to enter negotiations with China.” Powell’s remarks also seem to have
imposed a policy change and divert from President Clinton’s statements that
any change in the future status of Taiwan must have the assent of the people
of Taiwan.
President Chen, who delighted Washington with good will gestures
toward Beijing since winning reelection, lashed out, saying “Taiwan is absolutely
a sovereign independent country.” Foreign Minister Mark Chen said, “the U.S.
didn’t want any surprises from us, but sprang a big surprise on us.”
Actually Secretary Powell’s statements should not have come as a big
surprise. It has long been an open secret since James Mann’s 1998 book,
About Face, that Henry Kissinger and President Nixon during their visit to
China in l972 made secret deals with Foreign Minister Chou En-lai that Taiwan
was a part of China, and that the U.S. would not support Taiwan’s independence.
In establishing diplomatic relations with China in 1979, the U.S. accepted
China’s uncompromising condition that “there is only one China and that
Taiwan is a part of China.” The only shock is that the U.S. for the first time
publicly stated that Taiwan is not a state and that the U.S. is seeking Taiwan’s
reunification with China.
Following Taiwan’s vigorous protests, Deputy Assistant Secretary of
State Schreiber reassured Taiwan that the U.S. policy toward Taiwan had
not changed and that President Reagan’s assurances to Taiwan remain valid.
Powell himself also issued a clarification. But to some opposition party leaders
in Taiwan, Powell’s remarks were not a slip but a warning to the
pro-independence groups not to provoke Washington when the U.S. is
preoccupied with the war in Iraq and eager for China’s cooperation in
eliminating North Korean nuclear weapons threats.
The diplomatic tempest has died down for the time being. But many
in Taiwan are asking whether the U.S., which is promoting democracy and
human rights throughout the world, is so eager to seek China’s cooperation
as to sacrifice Taiwan. They are upset that, of all people, Collin Powell
should ignore Taiwan’s transformation from a Nationalist government
dictatorship to a vibrant democracy and should be insensitive to an irreversible
historical current in Taiwan: rising sense of the Taiwanese identity and a
determination to establish a free, democratic country, separate from
authoritarian Communist China.
2.
Most are patient enough to be content with de facto, not de jure,
independence, so as not to provoke Washington and Beijing. But they
wonder how could the U.S., which fought for freedom and independence
from England, fail to appreciate theTaiwanese aspirations for freedom from
Communist Chinese dictatorship, now threatening Taiwan with 600 ballistic
missiles and rape if it declared independence. They are indignant that
Taiwan, an information technology giant, which has more than satisfied
the four international law requirements for recognition as a sovereign
state - 23 million permanent residents; a territory larger than 40% of
the United Nations members; a government exercising sovereign control;
and the ability to enter into international relations with other countries -
in Mr. Powell’s eyes is not even a country. They feel betrayed by an
egregious injustice perpetrated by international power politics.
The Taiwanese also ask whether the U.S. policymakers ponder the
impact on the U.S. interests of bargaining Taiwan away. Some are disappointed
by the shift in President Bush’s policy from a near unconditional support for
Taiwan before 9/11 to opposing Taiwan’s independence in his effort to secure
Beijing’s cooperation, giving China an undue leverage over the U.S. and
allowing Beijing to press Washington to sacrifice Taiwan in exchange for its
cooperation.
Some retired Japanese self-defense forces generals and admirals worry
about China’s take over of Taiwan, which would turn the Taiwan Strait, the east
China seas and the south China seas into China’s inland seas and about its
impact on the freedom of the seas, the security of Japan and the Japan/U.S.
alliance. Prof. Shigeo Hiramatsu, the foremost Japanese scholar on the Chinese
military, has warned of Chinese efforts to prevent U.S. intervention in the
planned invasion of Taiwan: moving China’s first line of defense (Aleutian
islands to Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines and Borneo) to the second line of
defense (from Japan’s northern territory to the Ogasawara islands, Iwojima,
and Guam), designed to conduct nuclear submarine warfare and to launch
ballistic missiles attack against U.S. cities.
The Bush administration’s eagerness to establish good relations with
China in view of China’s emergence as an Asian power and of the need to
have its cooperation on the North Korean issue, is understandable. But is it
wise to sacrifice Taiwan? The Chinese take over of Taiwan will not only be a
grave injustice to the 23 million people of Taiwan, but a threat to the security
of American allies and friends. Most important, it will allow the rapid expansion
of Chinese Communist sphere of influence way eastward to the mid-Pacific,
threatening U.S. security.
U.S. interests dictate a return to, if not the immediate revision of, the
more ambiguous “one China policy” and a reaffirmation of the Taiwan
Relations Act and President Reagan’s six assurances to Taiwan. It is imperative
that the U.S. and China face the radically changed political reality in Taiwan
- rising sense of Taiwanese identity and aspirations for establishing a free,
democratic country and for peaceful coexistence with China.
Don’t sell Taiwan short. Press China to cease threatening Taiwan.
Encourage the peaceful and prosperous coexistence between Taiwan and
China. The U.S. will be blessed as “the peacemakers and called the
children of God.” (Matthew 5:8).
中秋�倴祝活�於 September 8 2001 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. in Nashville Chinese Christian Church. Pot Luck. Moon Cake will be provided.
