According to the defence authorization bill for the 2003 fiscal year, passed by the US Senate and the House of Representatives on May 10, the US Government has planned to strengthen its military cooperation with Taiwan by proposing a defence scheme for Taiwan and adjusting its involvement in Taiwan military affairs from passive reaction to active interference.
The upgrading of US-Taiwan military relations will inevitably increase tension across the Taiwan Straits and, therefore, threaten peace and stability in East Asia.
According to the Bush administration, the maintenance of cross-Straits military balance is important because it is a guarantee of "absolute peace" in the Taiwan Straits.
Dennis C. Blair, US Pacific Fleet Commander-in-Chief, claimed during his visit to some Asia-Pacific regions last month that the role of US troops is to keep stability in the Taiwan Straits. A Taiwan with security guarantee would help resume dialogue between the two sides of the Straits, he said.
Following that logic, the United States has an indispensable role in maintaining peace across the Taiwan Straits.
However, the fact is the Taiwan authorities' fantasy of independence would not have run so rampant without US connivance.
Taiwan would not have become a question at all had the United States not intervened.
The United States is committed to the security of Taiwan by the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA), though it claims it adheres to the one-China policy.
Since the end of the Cold War, there has been a tilt toward Taiwan in US policy. The US Government has been actively removing the strategic ambiguity it maintained for the past two decades on Taiwan's defence. The incumbent US president has been even more vocal about upgrading US-Taiwan military relations.
The Bush administration made what the outside world viewed as a major departure from the Clinton administration's China policy by pledging the United States would do "whatever it takes" to defend Taiwan.
Though Bush explained there was no change of the US one-China policy, his remarks, as commented by CNN, marked the strongest and most specific commitment any US president has made to Taiwan's defence.
Many of his advisers, including Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowits, are outspoken advocates of removing ambiguity when it comes to defending Taiwan.
The Bush administration's close military ties with Taiwan and loose restrictions on high-ranking Taiwan officials' visit to, or transit through, the United States have been unusual since the termination of US-Taiwan "diplomatic relations."
The change has its reasons.
The ending of the Cold War and, in particular, the disintegration of the Soviet Union, reduced the concern for possible alliance with China on the US geopolitical balance.
Meanwhile, some Americans have viewed the recent rise of China as a potential challenge to US leadership in regional affairs.
What has made the US Government so aggressive about Taiwan, however, are its extensive self interests.
Besides its close economic and cultural links with Taiwan, the United States takes Taiwan as a quasi-ally in the West Pacific.
The Americans want a favorable balance of power in the Asia-Pacific region to prevent the rise of a competing power that might undermine its dominant position in this region. Therefore, some American strategists believe the artificial separation of Taiwan from the mainland, along with the subsequent tension, best serves US interests.
That explains why, while admonishing Taiwan against declaring independence, the US Government has always vowed to intervene if the mainland resorts to force for the nation's reunification.
With the efforts made in the past few decades, Taiwan has bought an influential pro-Taiwan lobby and enlisted supporters in the US Congress, White House, the media and other circles.
With their help, the Taiwan authorities have created a false image of the island as a tiny democratic ally threatened by a "totalitarian neighbor."
That has also been the pretext for some in the US Congress to dump strategic ambiguity in favor of unambiguous commitment to defend Taiwan.
Since Taiwan's reliance on US back-up is decisive, the US commitment to Taiwan's defence under the TRA and its sale of some high-profile weapons systems have been seen as critical indicators of greater US support for Taiwan.
Not surprisingly, the Chinese mainland is very sensitive to the upgrading of US-Taiwan military cooperation which could encourage Taiwan to move toward independence more boldly and, thereby, result in outright confrontation.
The upgrading of US-Taiwan military relations jeopardizes the one-China policy and the political foundation of Sino-US relations, and reduces the possibility of a peaceful solution of the Taiwan question.
If Taipei feels Beijing is not able to deter it militarily, it might cross the bottom line Beijing has drawn and announce its independence.
And that would only lead to the Chinese mainland to use force for the nation's reunification, however much it prefers a peaceful way to deal with the Taiwan question.
(China Daily May 29, 2002)
