http://www.isn.ethz.ch/news/sw/details.cfm?id=10017 Powell confirms ambiguous Taiwan-China policy ISN SECURITY WATCH (26/10/04) – US Secretary of State Colin Powell reaffirmed the US "One China" policy on Monday during a visit to three Asian countries. "Taiwan is not independent. It does not enjoy sovereignty as a nation, and that remains […] our firm policy," Powell said. Although the US has close relations to Taiwan and President George Bush pledged at the start of his presidency to do "whatever it takes" to defend the US ally from a Chinese attack, the official position is that the White House refuses to acknowledge Taiwan's independence and opposes any unilateral move by either China or Taiwan to change the status quo, a policy that is deliberately ambiguous. The island split off from China in 1949 after the Communists under Mao Zedong had subdued nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek and his Kuomintang party, who set up a separate Chinese state across the Taiwan Straits. The US officially recognized Taiwan's statehood until 1 January 1979, when it switched its recognition to the "mainland" People's Republic of China as the only legal Chinese government. US-Taiwanese relations have since been determined by the Taiwan Relations Act, which highlights the US' security interest in maintaining the status quo until a peaceful settlement is reached between Taiwan and China. Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian has repeatedly spoken of plans to hold a national referendum on declaring formal independence from the People's Republic of China, but US officials have urged his administration not to force the issue too hard. As an ally of the US, Taipei has strong economic and military ties to Washington, and the US sold the island republic US$15 billion worth of arms in 2003, including submarines, navy vessels, and aircraft. Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party quickly responded to Powell's statement, saying that Taiwan was truly sovereign and challenging the US secretary of state's "ignorance of the facts". The US wishes to avoid an outbreak of hostilities across the Taiwan Straits, as such a conflict would create major economic disruption and could distract the US from other flashpoints on the Korean peninsula and in the Middle East. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar. Now with Pop-Up Blocker. Get it for free! http://us.click.yahoo.com/L5YrjA/eSIIAA/yQLSAA/TySplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
