Breaking News, World News and Taiwan News.

Updated Thursday, December 16, 2010 10:47 am TWN, By Joseph Yeh, The China Post

Sponsors
▪	Get the best deals for Guangzhou Hotels or choose from more than 10,000 hotels in 499 Chinese cities.
▪	Find great real time deals on China Flights. Book flights to China or China domestic flights 24/7.
▪	Buy china wholesale products from reliable chinese wholesalers on DHgate.com!
▪	Save 75% for all hotels in Shanghai, Beijing and whole China. Lowest rates for Flights in China.

US and China 'unlikely' to sign joint statement during Hu's visit: envoy

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwan's representative to the United States yesterday said it was “unlikely” for the U.S. and China to sign the fourth communique or release a joint statement that will impact the trilateral relationship during Chinese President Hu Jintao's scheduled visit to Washington next January.

“It is quite unlikely for China and the U.S. to release any form of joint statement or communique since U.S. President Obama has already released a statement following his previous visit to China in November 2009,” said Jason Yuan, Taiwan's representative at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Washington, yesterday during a legislative session.

Taiwan's de facto ambassador to the U.S., however, stressed that he had expressed the nation's stance to America that any joint statement made by the both sides cannot be released at the expense of Taiwan.

The U.S. and China have so far signed three communiques, which have played a crucial role in the normalization of relations between the two countries.

Yuan made the comment yesterday in response to a question from ruling Kuomintang (KMT) legislator Lin Yu-fang, who expressed worry that China and the U.S. would sign a communique or release a joint statement during Hu's upcoming U.S. trip that will take place from Jan. 18 to 20, 2011.

Lin added that such a joint statement could seriously impact the three-sided relationship, especially when Taiwan is asking the U.S. to sell more advanced F-16 C/D fighter jets to the island in light of China's growing military threats.

In response to the lawmaker's concern, Yuan said he was confident that Washington will not do anything that would be harmful to bilateral ties, as Taiwan-U.S. relations are in a good order at the moment as both sides have been maintaining close communication.

For instance, the U.S. sent representatives to his office for a briefing on the main purpose of a delegation led by U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg, who left Washington yesterday to visit China and Japan.

“They told us that the focus of their visit to Beijing is to discuss regional tension between the two Koreas and Hu's upcoming visit to the U.S., instead of focusing on Taiwan issues,” Yuan noted.

Subscribe to The China Post and save 25%. Click here