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Experts stress Taiwan's interests
THREE-WAY TIES: US academics said Washington and Taipei should enhance
cultural, economic and diplomatic ties and seek to influence Beijingˇ¦s positive
development
By Shih Hsiu-chuan
STAFF REPORTER
Wednesday, Jun 23, 2010, Page 3
ˇ§Military balance in the Strait should not move significantly in either
direction. Taiwan should not seek and the US should not provide weapons that
would do more than preserve the balance.ˇ¨ˇX Scott Lilly, senior fellow at the
Center for American Progress
US academics yesterday highlighted the role of Taiwan in the White House's
foreign policy, saying Taiwan's interests were ˇ§not negotiableˇ¨ in the shaping
of US policy on China.
Scott Lilly, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a
Washington-based policy research and advocacy organization, told a forum that
ˇ§the bilateral relationship between the US and Taiwan is one of the most
important bilateral relationships in the world.ˇ¨
That is because ˇ§both countries [Taiwan and the US] play critical roles in the
biggest issue that is facing the world in this century ˇX and that is the
emergence of China,ˇ¨ Lilly said.
To influence China to develop in a direction that is beneficial to its people
and the world, Lilly said the US and Taiwan should enhance cultural, economic
and diplomatic relations, as well as work together to maintain a military
balance in the Taiwan Strait.
ˇ§Military balance in the Strait should not move significantly in either
direction. Taiwan should not seek and the US should not provide weapons that
would do more than preserve the balance,ˇ¨ he said.
Lilly said weapons that are vital to Taiwan should be provided without politics
and should be agreed to without being used as bargaining chips to negotiate with
China on other issues.
Lawrence Korb, a senior fellow at the center, said the US would not do anything
that would undermine the interests of Taiwan as they are ˇ§not negotiable.ˇ¨
Taiwan developing into an information technology hub would contribute to making
it indispensable in the world, where soft power and new alliances are becoming
increasingly more important than geographic location, said Michael Werz, another
senior fellow at the center.
Werz said Taiwan could increase the value of what it contributes to the
international system if it could make itself a close, competent and critical
research hub about everything that happens in China.
The academics were part of a forum discussing US President Barack Obama's
foreign policies organized by the American Cultural Center at the American
Institute in Taiwan.
Asked about Taiwan's role in US policy on China, Lilly said it was difficult for
the US to think about its relationship with China without thinking about its
relationship with Taiwan.
ˇ§It's impossible to disentwine US policy in China from US policy in Taiwan. They
are of the same parcel,ˇ¨ Lilly said, adding that the USˇ¦ relationship with
Taiwan was a real test for China in terms of how it moves forward.
Korb said US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates' recent reaffirmation of the US
stance on arms sales to Taiwan amid Chinese opposition provided the best answer
to the question.
On the imminent signing of a cross-strait economic cooperation framework
agreement (ECFA), Sabine Dewan, associate director of international economic
policy at the center, said: ˇ§It's important to consider the positive and
apprehensions that people might have of [an] ECFA and think about where Taiwan
would be if this agreement were not brokered.ˇ¨
ˇ§Trade is really one of the ways that we relate to other countries in this
transforming global economic landscape. There is no going back. Protectionism is
not a possibility anymore,ˇ¨ she said.
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