Recently, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bicameral
resolution (jointly sponsored by the Senate and the House of
Representatives) called "Reaffirm the Commitment to 'The Taiwan Relations
Act' ", faulting China for increasing military threats against Taiwan,
preaching about increasing arms sales to Taiwan and urging the U.S.
government to upgrade military relations between the U.S. and Taiwan. The
resolution also claims that the U.S. will stick unswervingly to "the
Taiwan Relations Act". The Chinese government and the Chinese people
oppose firmly such moves of the American House of Representatives in terms
of ignoring the three Sino-U.S. joint communiques as well as the overall
relationship between China and the U.S. and wantonly intervening in
China's internal affairs. Such practice also gives wrong signal to the
Taiwan independence forces, helps to feed their arrogance and tilts the
balance of the across Taiwan Strait situation further toward war.
There are always some people in the U.S. who seek to hold back the
development in China. "The Taiwan Relations Act" is the so-called "legal
basis" for their promotion of the strategy of "containing China by making
use of Taiwan". In order to realize the American selfish global interests
and strategy, some politicians in the U.S. have been taking the advantage
of "The Taiwan Relations Act" to promote substantive and tangible
relations with Taiwan, to create unstable regional situation and to curb
the development and rise of China, while chanting about "abiding by the
three joint communiques on Sino-U.S. relations and sticking to the 'One
China Policy' ". Ever since "The Taiwan Relations Act" was signed into law
in 1979, all previous U.S. Administrations as well as the present one have
been implementing it "unswervingly" and providing the Taiwan regime with a
"protective umbrella", which has given rise to the tense situation across
the Taiwan Strait in recent years.
"Reaffirm the Commitment to 'The Taiwan Relations Act' " indicates
that the "broad business, cultural and other relations" between the U.S.
and Taiwan are going to be boosted further. What do the "other relations"
mean here? The answer is quite obvious to those of good sense. A few
months ago, when the outcome of the election of leaders in Taiwan was
still in dispute, the spokesman of the U.S. government could not wait to
offer the American congratulations to Chen Shui-bien and the U.S. Congress
even went as far as to sent a delegation to attend the latter's
"inauguration" ceremony. In spite of the fact that Chen Shui-bien dropped
some sensitive phrases and words in his "5.20" speech, it is still an
out-and-out "Taiwan independence" program. Nevertheless, the U.S. could
scarcely wait to express its appreciation and to lavish praise on it by
saying that it was a "constructive speech".
The under-the-table supports offered by the U.S. to the Taiwan
independence forces can only serve to make the latter more swollen with
arrogance, which will consequentially further aggravate the tense regional
situation. "Reaffirm the Commitment to 'The Taiwan Relations Act' "
confuses right and wrong. It attributes the tense situation across the
Taiwan Straits, which was touched off by Chen Shui-bien and his like's
activities for Taiwan's independence, to the so-called "China's build-up
of military threat against Taiwan". In fact, this is another way of
fabricating and touting the fallacy of "mainland threat", so as to
intimidate the Taiwan public and pave the way for selling weapons to the
Taiwan regime. The Bush Administration has been continuously upgrading
military cooperation between the U.S. and Taiwan at a time when the across
Taiwan Strait situation is highly sensitive. It did not only send advisory
group to take part in the military exercise of the Taiwan military, but
also allowed officers from the Taiwan military to get on board the
American aircraft carrier to take part in the military exercise of the
U.S. forces. During the "Hankuang" exercise organized by the Taiwan
authority recently, the American "Kitty Hawk" aircraft carrier passed
through the outer sea to the east of Taiwan Island. It would be a
farfetched argument that this was a mere coincidence. In addition, the
U.S. is also busily involved in reconstructing the Guam Base and has
planned to send an additional aircraft carrier battle group to station in
the West Pacific Ocean permanently. The U.S. authority has made no secret
of such measures being related directly or indirectly to the situation of
the Taiwan Strait. On the other hand, the Taiwan independence forces, such
as Chen Shui-bien and his like are ready to pay back the American generous
act by offering to procure weapons from the U.S. at a price several times
higher than that of the international market. The total value of the
scheduled deal will cost Taiwan NT$600-plus billion. This is but one more
case in which Chen's private ends or the interests of his political party
will be paid heavily by the blood and sweat of the Taiwan people. Even the
strategy of "resisting reunification with armed forces" practiced by
Taiwan under Chen Shui-bien and his Taiwan independence forces has been
changed from "defending Taiwan Island" to "fighting a decisive battle
outside the island".
Taiwan is a part of the Chinese territory. The determination of the
Chinese government and the Chinese people to maintain the country's
sovereignty and the territorial integrity is unshakable. The Chinese
government has solemnly declared on many occasions that the Taiwan
question is a matter of sovereignty and territorial integrity for China
and it has everything to do with the Chinese nucleus interests. The stand
of the Chinese government and the Chinese people on this question is
crystal clear, firm and dead serious, and allows no compromise and no
concession. The Chinese government and the Chinese people will never
tolerate, condone or remain indifferent to any move, in and out of Taiwan
Island, that aims at splitting China. The U.S. practice to lord its
domestic law over the international treaties and to seek after interests
for its own country by creating tense regional situation will only bring
serious damages to the overall relationship between China and the U.S. and
will eventually hurt its own interests. China and The U.S., as two of the
major powers in the world, are enjoying more and more common interests and
share the responsibility for maintaining regional stability and peace. The
U.S. should return to its stand of seriously sticking to the three joint
communiqués between China and the U.S. and stop sending any more wrong
signals to the Taiwan independence forces.
By Chen Yongcheng
(July 28, PLA Daily)