U.S. and Taiwan (2008)

U.S. Department of State

Moving Forward in 2008: The U.S.-East Asia Relationship

Christopher Hill, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs
Foreign Press Center Briefing
Washington, DC
March 19, 2008
3:00 P.M. EDT

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QUESTION: Thank you, Ambassador. My name is Donghui Yu with China Press. Last week, the Pacific Commander Keating said, it's very unlikely that something will happen in the Taiwan Straits. Do you agree with that comment? If you do, does it mean the United States and China have reached a common sense that both countries will maintain the stabilities of the Taiwan Straits, particularly when referendum and election are coming? And also what prevented measure the United States would take to prevent any contingency in this area? Thank you so much.

AMBASSADOR HILL: Well, first of all, I think, Admiral Keating is offering a forecast of how he sees events unfolding. I mean, I would -- I'm not in any position to contradict what Admiral Keating has said. I will say that Taiwan will have elections on the 22nd of March. How these elections come out, how they're conducted is a matter for the people of Taiwan to accomplish. I'm not going to give them advice on what to do in their elections.

I think, Secretary Rice has spoken on a couple of occasions, including just when she was in Beijing just a few weeks ago, our views on the referendum idea. And so I don't really have much to add to that. Our position with respect to the Taiwan Straits, indeed with respect to the relationships with Taiwan are pretty much the same and you've heard them many times, where we have called for peaceful dialogue, no unilateral change of status, and where we've made clear that we do not support calls for Taiwan independence. So I have really nothing new to say to that.

Obviously, we call for these things because we think they're not only in our interest, but they're in everybody's interest to maintain calm and to deal with the situation through peaceful dialogue. And I think that remains true today as it was the first day it was uttered.

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QUESTION: Thank you. Naichian Katz from Phoenix Satellite Television of Hong Kong. Ambassador Hill, you talk about Tibet and Taiwan's election. My question is: Are you concerned that the way China dealt with Tibet and protestors may have unexpected implication on Taiwan's upcoming presidential election and maybe negative implications on the cross-strait relations? Thank you.

AMBASSADOR HILL: Well, I'm -- first of all, I'm not going to handicap the -- I'm not going to, you know, make judgments about how the Taiwan -- people in Taiwan are going to make their vote. I mean, they have information they'll look at, information -- and I'm not going to start predicting, you know, what things that happen in the world can affect the vote. Obviously, you know, we think -- you know, we look forward to a free and fair election in Taiwan. We have every reason to expect it to be. It'll be happening in just a couple of days from now. But I'm not really in a position to tell you what is affecting the vote and what is not affecting the vote.

Yes.

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