U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in an interview on Nov. 12 that “Taiwan has never been part of China”. His statement subsequently triggered a strong reaction from both sides of the Strait. It is reported that the U.S. State Department further elaborated on this on November 14, saying that the U.S. “one-China policy” is clearly different from China’s “one-China principle” and that the U.S. has no position on Taiwan’s sovereignty.
According to the Central News Agency, a spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, in response to media inquiries, said that in addition to reiterating what he has always said, he referred to the Taiwan Relations Act and the three U.S.-China joint communiqués, and added the six assurances given to Taiwan under former U.S. President Ronald Reagan. One of those assurances was that the United States position on Taiwan’s sovereignty had not changed.
The U.S. spokesman noted that for nearly 40 years, U.S. policy has been guided by the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, the three U.S.-China communiqués and the six assurances given to Taipei by Reagan in 1982. The spokesman said, “The United States has long adopted a one-China policy, which is markedly different from Beijing’s one-China principle, under which the Communist Party of China advocates sovereignty over Taiwan. The U.S. does not take a position on Taiwan’s sovereignty.” The spokesman stressed that “the fundamental interest of the United States is that the Taiwan issue be resolved peacefully, without the use of coercion, and in a manner that is acceptable to people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, just as Beijing has committed itself to.”
Pompeo addressed a number of major diplomatic issues in a phone interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt on Thursday. On the issue of U.S. commitment to Taiwan, Hewitt said that Pompeo has said, both as CIA director and secretary of state, that the U.S. commitment to Taiwan is clear and will be maintained. He asked Pompeo, who often talks to Democrats, “Do you believe that this is a bipartisan commitment that the Chinese Communist Party must recognize? Because the most extremist elements of the Chinese Communist Party are making the kind of crazy statements that it is necessary to use force to recover Taiwan if necessary.”
Pompeo replied, “It’s always important to get the wording right. Taiwan has never been a part of China, and that’s recognized in the policy making that the Reagan administration did, policies that the United States has followed for thirty-five years now, and both administrations have done so. No, I do think that it is in fact bipartisan in nature. I think the core understanding is that this is a model of democracy and that the people living in Taiwan should be respected by holding China to the promises that they’ve made, and I think that’s something that both parties can agree on.”
Pompeo continued, “I hope that this will continue for as long as the Chinese side and the Taiwanese side cannot find a solution to this problem. We should honor the commitments that were made, and we have a series of obligations. You saw our announcement of arms sales to Taiwan to assist their ability to defend themselves. All of these things are designed to implement – frankly, the commitments that have been made between China and the people of Taiwan.”
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