Bush warns Taiwan against independence
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| Wed, 12-10-2003 - 11:52am |
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SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/151755_china10.html
Bush warns Taiwan against independence
The announcement is a shift in U.S. policy toward Beijing
Wednesday, December 10, 2003
By BOB DEANS
COX NEWS SERVICE
WASHINGTON -- Sending a blunt warning to a longtime Asian partner, President Bush cautioned Taiwan's leadership yesterday against "comments and actions" aimed at independence, telling visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao that the United States opposes such steps.
Bush also put Wen on notice that any military action against Taiwan by China would invite a forceful response from the United States, reiterating an earlier pledge to defend the island republic from potential mainland aggression.
The comments came amid mounting U.S. worries over escalating tensions between Taiwan and China. Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian has called for a referendum next March calling for China to withdraw all missiles aimed at Taiwan and to renounce the use of force against the island. Beijing, which has deployed 500 offensive missiles within striking distance of Taipei, views the referendum as a move toward independence.
"We oppose any unilateral decision, by either China or Taiwan, to change the status quo," Bush told reporters during a brief Oval Office photo session with Wen. "And the comments and actions made by the leader of Taiwan indicate that he may be willing to make decisions unilaterally to change the status quo."
Wen, the first of a new generation of Chinese leaders to visit the White House, responded that China would seek to settle its differences with Taipei peacefully, "so long as there is a glimmer of hope" for doing so.
He also accused Chen of trying "to split Taiwan away from China."
Beijing regards Taiwan as a breakaway province, owing to its 1949 split from the mainland in the midst of civil war when communists took control of China. Since then, Taiwan has functioned as a sovereign entity.
"The Chinese government respects the desire of people in Taiwan for democracy," said Wen, who, as premier, is the No. 2 official in China's one-party communist government. He accused Chen, though, of "only using democracy as an excuse and attempt to resort to (a) defensive referendum to split Taiwan away from China."
Bush's comments, following a 40-minute Oval Office meeting with Wen, appeared to tilt U.S. policy slightly toward Beijing on a delicate subject that has for decades been a major irritant in Sino-American relations. A senior aide to Bush later told reporters the shift in emphasis was spawned by growing fears of a potential conflict across the 90-mile strait dividing Taiwan from China.
On other issues, Wen promised steps to cut the U.S.-China trade gap -- which has ballooned this year to $120 billion, in China's favor -- and to continue to press North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program. Both Bush and Wen cast the day's developments as reflective of the growing stakes in U.S.-Chinese relations.
"We are partners in diplomacy working to meet the dangers of the 21st century," Bush said during a South Lawn welcoming ceremony for Wen that included a 19-gun salute and the playing of both countries' national anthems.
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I think so, too.
Miffy
I understand Chen is behind in the poll, this is a gambit to increase his ratings. But, I don't think Bush should have publically embarrassed Chen. Bush is a diplomatic klutz!
I understand Chen is behind in the poll, this is a gambit to increase his ratings. But, I don't think Bush should have publically embarrassed Chen. Bush is a diplomatic klutz!
I agree...Bush should have kept his mouth shut until such a time that we were asked to be mediators...and then the comments should have been made IN PRIVATE.
I agree.
If war broke out in the Straits I think we'd have to step in...
About 43 percent of Taiwanese support their president's call for a March 20 referendum on whether China should stop pointing hundreds of missiles at the island, according to a TV poll.
The survey, broadcast Monday by cable news station TVBS, also found 38 percent of respondents opposed the historic referendum. The remaining respondents had no opinion.
The telephone poll was conducted Sunday, four days after U.S. President George W. Bush warned Taiwan he will oppose unilateral steps toward changing the status quo between Taiwan and China.
More.............
http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/asiapcf/east/12/15/taiwan.poll.ap/
cl-Libraone
The President’s Wrong-Headed Thinking.
>"As someone who has defended President Bush on a number of occasions, I am sorry to say that I find his actions last week difficult to comprehend.
First, the President took a harsh line toward Taiwan, a long-time friend and partner and a nation steeped in democratic and free enterprise sensibilities. The President expressed his opinion that a public referendum in Taiwan gauging the opinion of its people about Chinese ballistic missiles aimed at the island was somehow a movement toward independence, which our nation opposes."<
>"Taiwan and mainland China will find a way to bridge their differences without sacrificing the all important evolution toward free institutions and free trade, which are the basis of individual and human
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