Statement of Tom DeLay on PRC's Taiwan Ultimatum

   Washington, DC: Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX), the Majority Whip, today issued the following statement concerning an ultimatum issued earlier this week by the People's Republic of China (PRC) concerning Taiwan. That ultimatum, delivered in the form of a white paper issued by the PRC's most authoritative government body, contains the threat of military action against Taiwan if negotiations over reunification with the mainland are delayed.

    With this latest threat, the communist dictators currently governing the People's Republic of China continue to suggest they are committed to a policy of military confrontation, not peaceful negotiation, concerning the future of Taiwan.

    The People's Republic of China cannot continue to engage in this kind of aggression and expect to win the respect, let alone the friendship, of the United States and our allies. In fact, these rantings will, in my view, only serve to further convince Congress that Taiwan needs America's full and unreserved support.

    Whatever we may ultimately conclude about this disappointing statement from the People's Republic of China, no one can now doubt that the communist leaders in Beijing have set a troubling and dangerous course for the people of Mainland China.

    If the nations of the free world are to have any real interest in working with Communist China on any front, the People's Republic of China will need to reject - by word and by deed - the idea that belligerent expansionism is an acceptable foreign policy doctrine.

   Taiwan is today free, and the United States should do everything possible to ensure the liberty that has flourished on that island is never corrupted by communist tyranny and oppression.