posted 04-16-2004 06:49 AM            

**

US does not support "Taiwan Independence" www.chinaview.cn 2004-04-13 20:19:45

BEIJING, April 13 (Xinhuanet) -- Visiting US Vice President Dick Cheney said here Tuesday that the United States does not support "Taiwan Independence" and is against any unilateral action from each side to change the existing situation across the Taiwan Straits.

Cheney made the remarks during the talks with his Chinese counterpart Zeng Qinghong.

The United States realized the importance of the Taiwan issue to US-China relations, and the US policy on that question was not changed at all, Cheney said.

The US side sticks to the one-China policy based on the three joint communiques between the United States and China, the US senior official said.

Zeng introduced Chinese government's principled stance on the Taiwan issue.

The very fact of the Taiwan issue is that there is only one China in the world and Taiwan is part of China, the election result in the island could not change that fact, Zeng said.

The Chinese government will continuously adhere to the policy of peaceful reunification and the principle of "one country, two systems".

China will spare no efforts to settle the Taiwan issue in a peaceful way, but will never tolerate the "Taiwan Independence".

Zeng urged the US side to honor its commitments, stop selling weapons to Taiwan and not send any "wrong signals" to the "Taiwan Independence" forces. Enditem

US, China have made significant progress in relations: Cheney

BEIJING, April 13 (Xinhuanet) -- The overall development of relations between the United States and China is sound and the two countries have made significant progress in their ties in recent years, said visiting US Vice President Dick Cheney here Tuesday.

In his talks with Chinese Vice President Zeng Qinghong, Cheney said the visit is very important.

The two countries have created the foundation for close cooperation in the anti-terrorism and non-proliferation sectors, with which the US government feels satisfied, Cheney said.

posted 04-16-2004 12:25 PM            

quote:

---

BEIJING, April 13 (Xinhuanet) -- Visiting US Vice President Dick Cheney said here Tuesday that the United States does not support "Taiwan Independence" and is against any unilateral action from each side to change the existing situation across the Taiwan Straits.

---

This isn't really news. This has been U.S. policy since at least Clinton so it's certainly not something that can be attributed to neocons, although neocons may have adopted the position publically.

I say "publically" because I think virtually everyone (neocon or otherwise) would prefer an independent Taiwan, but very few people want to deal with the Chinese military action that will almost definitely occur if such independence is declared. If the U.S. ever says it supports Taiwan's independence it's almost a given that Taiwan will declare independence and expect (and probably receive) U.S. assistance in the ensuing war with China. Avoiding war with China is probably not a bad idea.

The "existing situation" is, in reality, where China realizes that Taiwan is independent but doesn't admit it, and Taiwan realizes that it is independent but doesn't declare it--which allows China to save face while Taiwan maintains independence, in reality if not on paper.