The Hindu : U.S. invitation to Taiwanese leader annoys China

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Sep 08, 2002

International

International

U.S. invitation to Taiwanese leader annoys China

By P. S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE Sept. 7. Even as the U.S. President, George W. Bush, telephoned his Chinese counterpart, Jiang Zemin, on the Iraq issue, Beijing last night took exception to Washington's benign attitude towards the leaders of Taiwan.

This jarring note in the Sino-U.S. diplomatic engagement, which has intensified in recent weeks, is a sequel to the announcement in Washington that Taiwan's Vice-Defence Minister, Kang Ningxiang, will visit the U.S. for talks that may include a meeting with his American counterpart, Paul Wolfowitz. China's official reaction to the American gesture towards Taiwan, made public late last night, is a reaffirmation of Beijing's views about the inviolability of the three Sino-U.S. communiqués that centre on Washington's acceptance of the one-China principle. The U.S. Deputy Secretary of State, Richard Armitage, had underlined, during his recent visit to Beijing, that there was no question of America supporting the idea of Taiwanese independence.

However, China's renewed plain speak on the U.S. attitude towards Taipei acquires importance in the light of Mr. Armitage's clarification that the U.S. policy was against supporting any possible bid by Taiwan for independence and that there was a fine distinction between such a position and an outright opposition to the notion of Taiwanese independence. More particularly, the U.S. has not so far described Mr. Kang's prospective visit as a "private" event as in the case of previous such engagements, and this is seen in the context of Mr. Bush's commitment to "do what it takes to defend Taiwan".

Although China has so far not made a formal statement on Mr. Bush's telephonic conversation with Mr. Jiang on the Iraqi question, the state news agency, Xinhua, reporting the conversation, said the two sides exchanged views on "international and regional issues" and also discussed, among other subjects, how to develop further and strengthen the "Sino-U.S. constructive and co-operative relations". While this may indicate the diplomatic premium that China places on its ongoing interactions with the U.S., Beijing regards Taiwan as an issue that could define the Sino-American relationship in the longer term.

With Mr. Bush's promise of consulting allies and friends about Iraq being taken seriously in Japan, diplomatic circles in East Asia wonder whether Tokyo will extend non-military logistical support to Washington in the event of a war being declared on the Saddam Hussein regime. The current indication in this regard is that Tokyo may continue to extend non-combat logistical support in line with Japan's pacifist constitution but on the condition that such assistance should not be used for any war effort in Iraq.

Japan had passed an enabling anti-terror legislation last October to update the country's MacArthur-era Constitution. Independent of these developments, Japan as also South Korea and the U.S. today concluded official-level talks in Seoul on the North Korean issue with the intention of urging Pyongyang to allow international inspection of its suspected nuclear-weaponisation sites. The meeting took place in the context of North Korea's invitation to the Japanese Prime Minister, Junichiro Koizumi, for a summit in Pyongyang on September 17.

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U.S. invitation to Taiwanese leader annoys China