U.S. and Taiwan (2006)

State Department Briefing, February 28

State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli briefed the press February 28.

Following is the transcript of the State Department briefing:

(begin transcript)

U.S. Department of State
Daily Press Briefing
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
12:54 p.m. EST

Adam Ereli, Deputy Spokesman

MR. ERELI: Hello, everybody. I'd be happy to start with your questions.

Peter.

QUESTION: Yeah. Today the Taiwan authorities actually made official, I guess, their abolition this body regarding guidelines for unification. The Chinese are being very bellicose about this. Does the United States really think that this is business as usual?

MR. ERELI: All of that's news to me. As far as where we were yesterday, is where we are today which is that the Taiwanese have made it clear that this body is not being abolished, that they have reaffirmed their commitment not to take unilateral steps to alter the status quo and to honor the inaugural pledges and to -- as far as we're aware, there's no change to the situation as it was yesterday.

QUESTION: Are you at all concerned just about -- well, the Chinese seem to think that there is a change in the situation? Are you worried about their -- why their aggressive statements are made?

MR. ERELI: The United States is concerned generally about any actions that heighten tension across the straits and that's why we continue to emphasize, number one, our consistent policy with regard to this issue based on the three communiqués in the Taiwan Relations Act, as well as the need for dialogue and call on both sides to take concrete steps in that direction.

QUESTION: Okay. Are there any plans for any contacts with the Taiwan authorities or with the Chinese or anybody on this issue?

MR. ERELI: We have regular, ongoing contacts with both sides on the issue urging them to again refrain from either unilateral acts, reminding them of our position with regard to the importance of dialogue and our preference for an approach that avoids provocative steps or avoids unilateral actions.

QUESTION: Just one last one, if I may, on this. Just on reading the transcript yesterday -- I'm sorry, I wasn't there -- but there seemed to be confusion exactly what the Taiwan authorities have done with the Chinese word and the words that you're using. Is anybody actually reaching out to the Taiwan authorities to try to get clarity from them what their intentions are in this move?

MR. ERELI: I don't think there's confusion on our part. Again, our understanding is that President Chen did not abolish the National Unification Council.

QUESTION: May I follow on the same subject?

MR. ERELI: Mm-hmm, sure.

QUESTION: Even though Chinese President Hu said something yesterday, but I mean, a lot of observers said so far China has reacted relatively calmly.

MR. ERELI: That's not what your colleague said.

QUESTION: Well, I mean, anyway, I'm just wondering what's your interpretation of China's calmness. And also the spokesperson of China's Foreign Ministry pointed out yesterday that the U.S. and China has been communicating on this subject, so my question is: Has this incident actually increased understanding between Beijing and the U.S. when it comes to Taiwan?

MR. ERELI: Well, the United States has a regular and good dialogue with China on a full range of issues, including the issue of Taiwan. So that's, I would say, a regular feature of our bilateral dialogue. And as far as Chinese reaction to these latest moves, I don't have any characterization of that other than to restate for you what our position is, and which I think you know very well, and to reiterate for you that we think it's important that both sides take steps to enhance dialogue and certainly to refrain from unilateral actions.

QUESTION: Have you -- during your conversation with Beijing, have you reassured them that U.S. is framing all those "one China" policy, things like that?

MR. ERELI: In our private discussions we make the same points that I'm making publicly and I think we made clear again our policy that we do not support Taiwanese independence and we oppose unilateral actions.

[ ...Intervening Text... ]

QUESTION: Adam, there's finger-pointing especially this week at the end of the month with Ambassador Bolton at the UN and the finger-pointing is toward Russia and China.

MR. ERELI: About what?

QUESTION: About settling* -- they're less than cooperative in settling out this issue and bringing it in a very stringent way to the Security Council. Is this --

MR. ERELI: You're talking about Sudan?

QUESTION: Sudan and Darfur.

MR. ERELI: The issue is not so much with China and Russia. In fact, the issue at this point really -- I wouldn't say there's only specific finger-pointing. We are working to develop a support for an agreement around a resolution. We're still in the early stages of that. Frankly, we need some more inputs from the UN experts who are there in Sudan to do an assessment mission and we look forward to that, but we're not at the stage yet where we're actually are lining up countries' support for a resolution or not. So I think you're a little off on the question.

QUESTION: This is what the news reports have been saying.

MR. ERELI: I haven't seen those.

[ ...Intervening Text... ]

(The briefing was concluded at 1:42 p.m.)

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