US defends Taiwan call for Dialogue with China

The United States defended Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian’s call for a dialogue with China even though it has been angrily rejected by Beijing. The State Department described as “welcome and constructive” Chen’s proposal contained in a national day speech he made last Sunday. He called for wide-ranging peace talks and a code of conduct with Beijing to reduce cross strait tension and defuse a military build-up on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. But China poured cold water on any potential dialogue and rejected Chen’s call, accusing him of cheating public opinion and risking “great catastrophe” if he pushed for Taiwan independence.hina insists that before it embarks on any negotiations with the island, Taiwan leaders must accept the “one China principle” which defines Beijing as the sole legitimate government of all China including Taiwan. Chen plans to enact a revised constitution in 2008, a move that China fears will lead to a more formalized break with the mainland. China has been ramping up military spending for over a decade in an attempt to change the strategic balance in the Taiwan Strait. It already has over 600 ballistic missiles pointed at the island and is adding 60 to 70 new missiles each year. The United States remains the leading arms supplier to Taiwan, even though it moved diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979. Despite its legal obligation to provide weapons to Taiwan, Washington acknowledges Beijing’s position that Taiwan should be considered an integral part of China. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher also responded to allegations that Taiwan could have been involved in experiments to manufacture nuclear weapons, saying Washington would leave it to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to look into the matter. According to reports, the agency had found samples indicating plutonium experiments carried out on the island two decades ago. The reports suggested that the experiments were part of a nuclear weapons development which was scrapped shortly afterwards.Full Story