| On
May 11, 1999, our letter appeared in the Washington Post. Unfortunately,
the Editor of the "Letters" page decided to cut the first paragraph
of our original letter, for our message (and the letter in the
paper) would have been much more clear if it would have been
kept in. We have taken the liberty to add the original paragraph
here. It appears between brackets [...].
Our Dealings
With the Middle Kingdom
May 11, 1999
[In his
op-ed piece ("Single-Issue Diplomacy Won't Work," op-ed, April
28) Henry Kissinger writes "For China, Taiwan represents an
inalienable part of the national territory and has been formally
so recognized by every American president since Franklin Roosevelt."
That is incorrect.]
Henry
Kissinger should know best, for he himself is the author of
the document that is the cradle of this 'One China Policy.'
At the end of their legendary 1972 trip to China, Mr. Kissinger
and President Nixon concluded the Shanghai Communiqué
with the Chinese leadership. In it, the United States merely
"acknowledges" Beijing's position that there is but one China
and that Taiwan is a part of China. It does not recognize,
accept, support or agree with the policy, but simply takes
note of China's position on Taiwan.
This was
done deliberately to not close the door on the right of self-determination
of the people of Taiwan.
Additionally,
on page 408 of his book "The Kissinger Transcripts" Mr. Kissinger
tells the Chinese: "I will assure you we will maintain our
support for the Shanghai Communiqué and will work to
complete normalization." It seems as if Mr. Kissinger has
now given up on that pledge.
The One
China Policy is outdated and needs to be abolished. It came
into being at the height of the Cold War when the U.S. needed
an ally to counter the Soviet threat. Today, the Cold War
is over and the Soviet threat is gone.
It is
therefore time for the United States to replace its One China
Policy with a policy that reflects reality: a "One China,
One Taiwan" policy.
WEN-YEN
CHEN
President,
Formosan Association for Public Affairs, Washington
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