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Ex-US official urges Taiwan dialogue
¡¥PERIL¡¦: The former US national security adviser said the removal of missiles
aimed at Taiwan would reassure Taiwanese and remove the need for US arms sales
to Taiwan
By William Lowther
STAFF REPORTER IN WASHINGTON
Friday, May 14, 2010, Page 3
A former US national security adviser on Wednesday called for a new ¡§candid
dialogue¡¨ between the US and China over Taiwan.
Stephen Hadley, national security adviser to former US president George W. Bush
during his second term in the White House, said it was his hope that such a
dialogue would over time convince Beijing that the solution to the problem of US
arms sales to Taiwan was ¡§in China¡¦s own hands.¡¨
Answering questions following a lecture called ¡§The Challenges and Opportunities
of US Policy in Asia¡¨ at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, Hadley said that
China needed to pull back and dismantle the missiles it has aimed at Taiwan.
It would improve relations across the Taiwan Strait and ¡§reassure Taiwan about
China¡¦s intentions,¡¨ he said.
That in turn, he said, would remove the need for US arms sales.
¡§Until China understands this is the right course for everyone, the United
States needs to stand by Taiwan,¡¨ he said.
Hadley was speaking at the 14th annual Lee Byung-chull lecture on international
affairs to mark the birth anniversary of the founder of the Samsung group.
¡§Our historical experience is that nations that share our values are our best
partners ¡X because common values beget common interests, and common interests
are the basis for making common cause in addressing global challenges,¡¨ Hadley
said.
One of the great successes of US policy after World War II was to help Japan and
South Korea build stable and prosperous societies based on democratic values and
free market principles, he said.
¡§The United States similarly needs to work closely with its other friends and
allies ¡X including Australia, the Philippines, New Zealand and Singapore ¡X and
continue its close friendship with the people of Taiwan,¡¨ he said.
It was no accident, he said, that the spread of freedom and democracy in Asia
over the last half of the 20th century was accompanied by nearly unprecedented
prosperity and stability.
¡§South Korea, Japan and Taiwan have led the way,¡¨ Hadley said.
While this could be a period of ¡§enormous promise,¡¨ it could instead be a period
of ¡§peril¡¨ in US-China relations, he said.
¡§There is a growing list of questions in many quarters about how China will use
its dramatically increasing economic, military and diplomatic power,¡¨ Hadley
said.
¡§China is deploying military capabilities ¡X fighter aircraft, missiles and
submarines ¡X that could deny US military forces access to the international
waters off China¡¦s coast. At least initially, these capabilities seem designed
to give China the option to act militarily against Taiwan without US
interference, should it decide to do so, and to give China the potential to
exercise exclusive control over the South China Sea,¡¨ he said.
Hadley said the US and China needed to increase transparency and resume military
cooperation.
¡§That means military-to-military exchanges, ¡¥hot lines¡¦ and other mechanisms to
avoid confrontation, joint training exercises and joint humanitarian assistance
operations in third countries,¡¨ he said. ¡§As a further step, China should begin
to move back and dismantle the missiles it has deployed adjacent to the Taiwan
Strait.¡¨
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