Washington, 31 October 1998
The Washington D.C.-based Heritage Foundation recently issued two
reports regarding U.S. Taiwan Policy.
The first report is titled Promoting
Freedom and Security in U.S.-Taiwan Policy, and was
written by Stephen J. Yates. Mr. Yates presents an analysis of the
policy of the Clinton Administration following the "Three No's"
pronounced by Mr. Clinton in Shanghai on 30 June 1998. Mr. Yates
writes that the President has changed U.S. policy toward Taiwan, and
that his statement reflects a pattern of appeasement that is a far
cry from the March 1996 Missiles Crisis, when the U.S. responded to
Chinese threats against Taiwan by sending two aircraft carriers into
the Taiwan Strait. Mr. Yates concludes that Mr. Clinton's new
policies will make conflict with China more likely in the future and
undermine U.S. credibility.
The second report is titled America's
Response to the China-Taiwan Talks: Encourage but Don't Interfere
, and was by former U.S. ambassador Harvey J. Feldman. In the
paper, Mr. Feldman comments on the recently-held Koo-Wang talks, and
states that President Clinton's "Three No's" in June/July
1998 unnecessarily complicated the cross-Strait dialogue. This tilt
weakened Taipei's position. Therefore, the U.S. should return to its
former position that the future status of Taiwan is something that
the two sides will have to work out for themselves by peaceful
means. He concluded that any solution should be arrived at
peacefully, without coercion, and is acceptable to the people of
Taiwan.