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Updated Friday, January 21, 2011 10:51 pm TWN, AFP and CNA



	U.S. President Barack Obama looks on as China's President Hu Jintao speaks during their joint news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 19. (AP) More Photos (2)

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Obama salutes Taiwan-China progress

WASHINGTON--U.S. President Barack Obama voiced hope Wednesday for a further easing of tensions over the Taiwan Strait as he pledged to stick to U.S. recognition of Beijing as the sole government of China.

Welcoming Chinese President Hu Jintao for a state visit, Obama welcomed a major trade pact sealed last year between China and Taiwan, which Beijing considers part of its territory.

“I welcomed the progress that's been made on both sides of the Taiwan Strait in reducing tensions and building economic ties,” Obama told a joint news conference.

“And we hope this progress continues, because it's in the interest of both sides, the region and the United States.”

Obama reaffirmed his commitment to the one-China policy and to the Taiwan Relations Act, a law passed by Congress in 1979 that requires the United States to provide the island with the means to defend itself.

In a joint statement, China stressed that Taiwan “concerns China's sovereignty and territorial integrity” and hoped the United States “will honor its relevant commitments and appreciate and support the Chinese side's position on this issue.”

Taiwan's government was set up by Chinese nationalists after they lost the civil war to the communists in 1949. China says the island is awaiting reunification with the mainland, by force if necessary.

China responded angrily last year when the United States sold Taiwan some US$6.4 billion worth of arms, including Patriot missiles, Black Hawk helicopters and minesweepers.

Taiwan has been pressing for F-16 fighter jets, fearful that the strategic balance is shifting in China's favor. After China unveiled a stealth aircraft last week, Taiwan conducted a major missile drill, although it was marred by several misses.

In response, Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the Republic of China government appreciates Obama's reaffirmation of his administration's commitment to upholding the Taiwan Relations Act in its engagement with China.

Obama's statement signifies the U.S. security commitment to Taiwan, the ministry said in a statement.

His reassurance followed U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's recent reaffirmation of U.S. commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act. All these moves indicate that the United States takes its promise to Taiwan seriously, the ministry said.

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Comments

January 21, 2011 ET@

China is the Banker of the US, they have to do what China wants.

January 22, 2011 babee_huey@

ET@ wrote:
China is the Banker of the US, they have to do what China wants.

The Chinese keep collecting our worthless paper dollars...and here the US holds over 15% of the world's gold. Life is great! Keep collecting our worthless paper!

January 22, 2011 wa.roeland@

Taiwan should be proud of itself. The recent warming of relations with China comes to the credit of the present Taiwanese government. But let us not forget that China is a communist nation with no free media, freedom of speech, freedom of gathering, unions, religion, traveling and most of all no political opposition.
Taiwan has all of these. Whatever close the relations between the two nations may become economically, culturally or in other fields, Taiwan will still be Taiwan and China will be China.
A gap of over 50 years of independence has separated the two countries indefinitely. Not comparable with E and W Germany or the future reunification on the Korean Peninsula, where crooks and tyrants mismanaged their countries and their own people to the extend that they were happy to become one country again. China and Taiwan are different. If you would ask the average Chinese in the streets of Shanghai or Beijing what they think should happen to China and Taiwan they could not care less. Not worth fighting a war over it. Only the communist politburo still presses for reunification. They lose face if not, but the future will show that common sense will prevail and when China has become a proper democracy in the future Taiwan and China will still be two separate nations, despite the United Nations ignoring the 20 + million people on Taiwan.