Foreign Correspondence

[Amaunet]

Interesting read: US policymakers seeking to contain China


The United States does not want peace between China and Taiwan.

"A hasty reconciliation between Taiwan and China does not match US interests in East Asia, so Washington may become more deeply involved in Taiwan's policy toward China," said Philip Hsu, an assistant professor of political science at National Taiwan University.

Reference:
Clearly, ending North Korea's nuclear crisis or even eliminating "evil" is not the ultimate goal of the US. What the US really wants, and is exploiting the North Korea "crisis" to achieve, is to deploy sufficient military forces and resources in the western Pacific (especially close to Taiwan) so as to encourage Taiwan independence, thereby checking China's growth as a power that might compete with the US. Not long ago, the US and Japan were talking about using Japan's Shimoji Island as a military base. Only about 200 miles from Taiwan, Shimoji has a "runway capable of safely handling a fully loaded F-15C fighter jet", observed James Brooke in the New York Times.
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Note:
This seems the same containment policy we have adopted toward Russia.

Perle, who believes that the White House should contain the Kremlin rather than cooperate with it, has criticized the campaign against Yukos shareholders from the beginning.
http://www.sptimes.ru/archive/times/915/news/n_10814.htm

-Am


-Am

US policymakers seeking to contain China: academics

By Rich Chang
STAFF REPORTER
Sunday, May 01, 2005,Page 3

Taiwanese academics yesterday said that US policy toward China has returned to the "containment principle," and that Washington does not want to see Taiwan and China reconcile too quickly in the wake of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan's meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao.
"A hasty reconciliation between Taiwan and China does not match US interests in East Asia, so Washington may become more deeply involved in Taiwan's policy toward China," said Philip Hsu, an assistant professor of political science at National Taiwan University.

The remarks were made at a seminar held on cross-strait relations yesterday.

Hsu said he observed that US policy toward Taiwan has become increasingly intrusive.

He said that although the US opposed Taiwan's holding of a referendum during the presidential election in March of last year, the referendum still took place. Thus, Hsu said, the US learned that "pre-emptive diplomacy" was not sufficient to influence cross-strait relations, and US policymakers had since decided to take a more active approach in the Taiwan Strait.

As a result, the US is playing a more active role on Taiwan's domestic politics, Hsu said.

Hsu also accused the US government of clandestinely encouraging President Chen Shui-bian to sign a 10-point consensus with People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong -- a move regarded as curbing Taiwan's independence forces.

The US even publicly "directed" Chen to act moderately and reasonably while attending the March 26 demonstration against China's "Anti-Secession" Law, Hsu said.

On the other hand, as the US "war on terrorism" has generally eased, Washington's focus has been shifted back to Asia. The Bush administration sees China as its biggest challenger in this century, and as such, a kind of containment policy is being brought to the fore, Hsu said.

Hsu also noted that as China prepared to enact the Anti-Secession Law, Washington and Tokyo announced in February that the Taiwan Strait was a "common strategic objective."

In addition, the US has strongly opposed the EU's plan to lift its arms embargo against China. The US made it clear to the EU that it does not want to see China use European-made weapons to kill Americans one day, Hsu said.

He added, however, that as the US adjusted its policy to "contain" China, Taiwan's opposition leaders complicated matters by accepting invitations to visit high-ranking officials in Beijing.

Hao Pei-chih, an assistant professor of public administration and policy at National Taipei University, said the issue of containment is at the core of US-China relations.

According to Hao's version of the containment theory, powerful countries build economic, diplomatic and sometimes even military walls around their rivals, but also leave a door for negotiations.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2005/05/01/2003252668