Excerpt: Clinton Cautions Taiwan, China to Resolve Differences Peacefully
("I think that no one should contemplate force")The United States "would view with the gravest concern" if China and Taiwan were to abandon efforts to resolve their differences peacefully, President Clinton says.
"I think we need to stay with one China. I think we need to stay with the dialogue, and I think that no one should contemplate force here," Clinton said during a July 21 news conference in the East Room of the White House, in which he also discussed a number of other foreign policy issues involving the Middle East, Europe, Africa and Latin America.
Regarding Taiwan and China, "our policy is clear. We favor the one-China policy, we favor the cross-Strait dialogues. The understanding we have had all along with both China and Taiwan is that the differences between them would be resolved peacefully. If that were not to be the case, under the Taiwan Relations Act we would be required to view it with the gravest concern," Clinton said.
"The pillars of the policy are still the right ones. The one-China policy is right. The cross-strait dialogue is right. The peaceful approach is right, and neither side, in my judgment, should depart from any of those elements."
Clinton said he believes that both China and Taiwan understand this. "I believe that they want to stay on a path to prosperity and dialogue. And we have dispatched people today, as the morning press reports, to do what we can to press that case to all sides. This is something that we don't want to see escalate."
Asked if Taiwan's President Teng-hui Lee was unnecessarily provocative in trying to redefine the nature of the Taiwan-Chinese relationship in his recent statements to Deutsche Welle, the German broadcasting network, Clinton said he is "still not entirely sure" exactly what the Lee statements were trying to convey.
He said a Pentagon mission to Taiwan to assess the air defense needs there was delayed because he did not think "this was the best time to do something which might excite either one side or the other and imply that a military solution is an acceptable alternative. If you really think about what's at stake here it would be unthinkable," he said.
Following is an excerpt from the White House transcript of the news conference:
(begin excerpt)
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press SecretaryJuly 21, 1999
PRESS CONFERENCE BY THE PRESIDENT
The East Room
2:35 P.M. EDT
Q: Mr. President, in U.S. treaty relations, is it obligated to defend Taiwan militarily if it abandons the one China policy? And would the U.S. continue military aid if it pursues separatism?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, let me say, first of all, a lot of those questions are governed by the Taiwan Relations Act, which we intend to honor. Our policy is clear: We favor the one China policy; we favor the cross-strait dialogues. The understanding we have had all along with both China and Taiwan is that the differences between them would be resolved peacefully. If that were not to be the case, under the Taiwan Relations Act we would be required to view it with the gravest concern.
But I believe that both China and Taiwan understand this. I believe that they want to stay on a path to prosperity and dialogue. And we have dispatched people today, as the morning press reports, to do what we can to press that case to all sides. This is something that we don't want to see escalate, and I believe that what Mr. Lee said yesterday was trying to move in that direction. We all understand how difficult this is, but I think that the pillars of the policy are still the right ones. The one China policy is right; the cross-strait dialogue is right; the peaceful approach is right. And neither side, in my judgment, should depart from any of those elements.
Q: So we would still have to go to war with China if it decided to break away?
THE PRESIDENT: I will say what I've already said -- the Taiwan Relations Act governs our policy. We made it clear. And I have -- as you remember, a few years ago we had a physical expression of that, that we don't believe there should be any violent attempts to resolve this, and we would view it very seriously. But I don't believe there will be. I think that both sides understands what needs to be done.
Terry?
Q: Mr. President, do you think that President Lee was unnecessarily provocative in trying to redefine the nature of the Taiwan-Chinese relationship? And is the United States trying to send a signal by delaying a Pentagon mission which was going to Taiwan to assess its air defense needs? And, further, finally, you said that you still believe in a one China policy. How do you address Senator Helms' criticism that that policy is "a puzzling fiction"?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I don't think it's a puzzling fiction. But if Senator Helms means that today they're not, in fact, unified, then that's true. But the Chinese tend to take a long view of these things and have made clear a sensitivity to the different system that exists on Taiwan, and a willingness to find ways to accommodate it, as they did in working with Hong Kong, and, perhaps, even going beyond that.
So I think the important thing is to let -- they need to take the time necessary to work this out between themselves in a peaceful way. That is clearly in both their interests. And I'm still not entirely sure, because I have read things which seem to resonate both ways on this, exactly what the Lee statements were entitled -- trying to convey.
But I think that both sides are now quite aware of the fact that they need to find a way to pursue their destinies within the framework that we have followed these last several years, which I might add, has allowed both places to prosper and to grow, to do better and to have more contacts, more investment, and underneath the rhetoric, quite a bit more reconciliation. So I would hope that we would stay with what is working and not depart from it.
Q: Is that the meaning of the delay of the Pentagon mission to assess the --
THE PRESIDENT: I didn't think this was the best time to do something which might excite either one side or the other and imply that a military solution is an acceptable alternative. If you really think about what's at stake here, it would be unthinkable. And I want -- I don't want to depart from any of the three pillars. I think we need to stay with one China; I think we need to stay with the dialogue; and I think that no one should contemplate force here....
(end excerpt)
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