United States should stand by agreement on Taiwan

April 28, 1999

In their excellent commentary "Taiwan Relations Act imperatives" (April 13), Christopher Demuth and Edwin Feulner stated that President Clinton "does nothing to recognize and reward Taiwan."

It is true that during the past two decades the people of Taiwan have accomplished an economic and political miracle. Still, they are not asking for a handout or a reward. They merely ask that the United States adhere to the commitments it made in 1979 when it enacted the Taiwan Relations Act. At a White House joint press conference on April 8, for instance, Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji stated: "We have never undertaken to renounce the use of force [against Taiwan.] Because if we were to make such a pledge, then I'm afraid that Taiwan would be in a perpetual state of separation from the motherland."

Mr. Clinton should have grabbed the opportunity to reaffirm the administration's determination that the use of force against Taiwan by China would be utterly unacceptable. Section 2(b)(4) of the Taiwan Relations Act reads: "[It is the policy of the United States] to consider any effort to determine the future of Taiwan by other than peaceful means ... of grave concern to the U.S." The more China understands that the United States would not stand idly by if China ventured too close to Taiwan, the less likely such an attack would be.

During the 1979 deliberations on the act in Congress, Rep. Clement Zablocki stated: "We are making it absolutely plain that we will not tolerate any armed attack or use of force against Taiwan."

April 10 marked the 20th anniversary of the Taiwan Relations Act. It provided the United States with an outstanding opportunity to make clear that it would stand by its friends in Taiwan and affirm the principle that the future of Taiwan must be determined by peaceful means and with the consent of its people.

While the 1979 Taiwan Relations bill was debated in the Senate, Sen. Claiborne Pell stated: "I believe that given a free choice, the Taiwanese would opt for a separate identity - an independent Taiwan." Mr. Pell was right at the time. And today, 20 years later, the Taiwanese would still opt for an independent Taiwan.

It is time for the United States to endorse that very right of the people of Taiwan to transform Taiwan's de facto independent status into permanent de jure independence.
 

WEN-YEN CHEN
President, Formosan Association for Public Affairs Washington, D.C.