US criticizes Chinese missile buildup
　

WAITING GAME: Despite saying that Washington would continue to sell Taipei defensive arms, John Negroponte said sales of F-16s would not happen soon
　

By Charles Snyder
STAFF REPORTER IN WASHINGTON
Saturday, May 17, 2008, Page 1

The US criticized China’s missile buildup along the Taiwan Strait on Thursday and said Washington would continue to sell arms to Taiwan to bolster its defense needs.

“We continue to express concern about the Mainland’s ongoing military build-up on its side of the Strait,” US Deputy Secretary of State John Negoponte told a congressional hearing held by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on China-US relations.

“We view China’s build-up as unnecessary and counterproductive. The anxiety it breeds on Taiwan encourages pro-independent inclinations that the Mainland’s missile deployment purports to deter,” said Negroponte, who testified for more than an hour at the hearing, the first the committee has held on China since the Democrats took control of the US Congress last year.

Beijing has repeatedly warned of an invasion should Taiwan declare formal independence.

In his New Year address this year, outgoing President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) warned that China had increased the number of tactical ballistic missiles targeting Taiwan from 200 in 2000 to more than 1,300.

In a warning to Beijing against the use of force, Negroponte said, “we want cross-strait differences to be resolved peacefully and according to the wishes of the people on both sides of the Strait.”

“Nobody should question our resolve in insisting on such a peaceful process,” he said.

Negroponte said Washington would “continue to sell Taiwan defensive arms to maintain the capacity to assist in Taiwan’s defense if needed.”

The US is obliged by law to offer Taiwan a means of self-defense if its security is threatened and is the leading arms supplier to the country, despite switching diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979.

Aside from the legal obligation, Negroponte said the arms sales also “supports our belief that a Taiwan confident and capable of protecting itself will offer the best prospects for a peaceful resolution of cross-strait differences.”

While Negroponte broke no new ground during the hearing on US policy toward Taiwan, however, he referred to Taiwan as “a country” at least twice during the afternoon hearing.

Negroponte, however, told the hearing that the US will not allow Taiwan to buy advanced versions of the F-16 fighter jets any time soon.

His comments came in response to questions by Republican members of the committee.

Committee chairman Joseph Biden did not mention Taiwan in his opening statement or in his questions. It is believed that he has been pushing for a chance at being secretary of state should the Democrats win the White House in November.

“There are no present plans to offer the F-16s to Taiwan,” Negroponte said in response to a question by Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski, a ranking minority member of the East Asia subcommittee.

Negroponte said that the Legislative Yuan “just recently” decided to seek the aircraft and voted initial funding for it, but said “there hasn’t been any subsequent step.”

In fact, the legislature approved US$488 million to begin the procurement process in the middle of last year, a commitment that assumed the US would accept a letter of request and provide purchasing data by last Oct. 31. The State Department barred the Pentagon from accepting the request letter by that deadline, causing the funding commitment to lapse.

The department has continued to bar the request from proceeding, although the Pentagon is known to want the sale to go through.

Pressed by Murkowski about the issue, Negroponte said: “It is not an offer at this particular time.”

Noting the presidential election in Taiwan, he added: “They are in the middle of a political transition in Taiwan, so we’ll have to await developments there.”

Murkowski complained that she had sent a letter on the F-16s to national security advisor Stephen Hadley in October, but had not received a response.

On Taiwan’s incoming administration, Negroponte said the US looked forward to working with Taiwan and the incoming administration of president-elect Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) on the basis of the Taiwan Relations Act and the three US-China communiques.

“With the inauguration of Ma Ying-jeou on May 20 we will have safely navigated a tense period in cross-strait relations,” he said.

Now Ma must find a diplomatic strategem
　

By Liu Shih-chung 劉世忠
Saturday, May 17, 2008, Page 8

President-elect Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has expressed grave concern over the impact of the Papua New Guinea (PNG) diplomatic scandal on Taiwan's reputation. He pledged to adopt a pragmatic and open approach to developing diplomatic ties.

To avoid the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government’s mistake of using brokers to lure PNG into establishing relations, Ma said his administration would prioritize negotiations with China on economic and cultural exchanges, a peace agreement and protection of Taiwan’s international space as part of efforts to develop international relations.

He said that “Diplomacy is the art of the possible ... The possibility of advancing Taiwan’s diplomatic relations is limited, but we may be able to break new ground by combining diplomacy with cross-strait relations.”

The PNG diplomatic setback serves as a cruel lesson for both the outgoing DPP and the incoming Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) on whether Taiwan should or could renounce the use of dollar diplomacy.

Before the DPP came to power in 2000, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) supported an overhaul of the KMT’s longstanding strategy of dollar diplomacy. He also suggested that the importance of the number of diplomatic allies was overstated.

Nevertheless, foreign policy has its own consistency and continuity. Chen’s administration continued the KMT’s practices with only minor adjustments. Using “brokers” to expand Taiwan’s limited international presence was one of these.

Now the Ma administration seems about to reverse this trend and place all bets on the improvement of cross-strait relations as the key to a diplomatic truce.

Is this goal achievable, and at what cost? Will China recognize the need for a diplomatic ceasefire? Ma would be indulging in wishful thinking if he thought so.

Rather, Ma needs to come up with a new foreign policy agenda in the South Pacific to rebuild Taiwan’s image in the region and redirect its aid programs.

Taiwan has six allies in the region. Diplomatic competition in the region appears to be evenly balanced, and this causes tremendous concern in countries such as Australia and New Zealand.

In a region of strategic significance and complicated geography, Beijing has reached out and exerted increasing influence through more frequent state visits and larger aid programs.

Because China is constantly trying to steal allies, it is imperative that Taiwan engage in diplomatic efforts to consolidate its diplomatic relations. Countering Beijing’s initiatives to broaden international influence and expand the “one China” principle will require frequent trips to the region by Taiwan’s president.

The next government should develop strategies extending its diplomatic influence in the South Pacific through provision of humanitarian aid, inculcation of good governance, regular consultation with regional powers and, most importantly, transforming its diplomatic methods.

It is a shame to see the DPP government failing to overcome the dollar diplomacy that it inherited from the KMT.

If the Ma administration is determined to reshape foreign policy, it needs clearer guidelines from the top to frontline diplomats on how to deal with their rivals.

Local media have reported that Ma has decided to make his first state visit to the nation’s diplomatic allies in Central America on Aug. 12, with stopovers in New York and Washington.

Will Beijing then cease pressuring the US on presidential stopovers? How would Ma react to Chinese obstruction and humiliation on his very first overseas tour?

Can he strike a balance between improving cross-strait relations and pursuing a diplomatic truce?

Liu Shih-chung is a Taipei-based political commentator.