Tom Tancredo's office passed around the following notice. It won't get anywhere, but little by little we chip away.....+++++++++
Tancredo leads bipartisan effort to forge Official ties between U.S. and Taiwan
Measure Aims to Junk Antiquated “One China Policy,” Formalize Diplomatic Relations with Taipei
Measure Aims to Junk Antiquated “One China Policy,” Formalize Diplomatic Relations with Taipei
U.S. Representative Tom Tancredo (R-Littleton) today introduced legislation that would call for the United States to resume normal diplomatic relations with Taiwan . The U.S. cut ties with Taiwan in 1979 when former U.S. President Jimmy Carter shifted recognition from the island nation to communist China . Carter made the decision without consulting or seeking the approval of Congress.
"Our current ‘One China’ policy is a fiction – a relic of time that has long since passed,” said Tancredo, “It’s time for the United States to stop living this lie and to formally recognize Taiwan for what it is: An independent and sovereign country.”
Since the U.S. cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan in 1979, the nation has developed into a regional economic powerhouse and a flourishing, pluralistic, multi-party democracy and has remained a reliable and steadfast ally of the United States .
“The reality is that China and Taiwan are two separate and independent political entities – this is an indisputable fact that no one can deny,” said Tancredo, “ Taiwan has never been under the control of the Chinese government in Beijing – not even for one minute.”
“There is no good reason the United States cannot maintain the same kind of normal relationship with the democratically elected government in Taiwan that it maintains with the autocratic regime on the mainland,” Tancredo continued, “There is ‘One China’ – but there is also ‘One Taiwan,’ and we should adopt an intellectually honest policy that reflects this fact.”
In addition to calling for a resumption of diplomatic ties between the two countries, the measure would also direct the U.S. Representative to the United Nations to support Taiwan ’s efforts to re-join the international organization.
U.S. Representatives Edolphus Towns (D-NY), Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), Mark Souder (R-IN), Dan Burton (R-IN), Steve Chabot (R-OH) and Marilyn Musgrave (R-CO) joined Tancredo in introducing the bipartisan legislation.
[Taiwan]
I hope he's putting his effort into "non-sexy" legislation as well, such as allowing serving US senior officers & officials to visit Taiwan, pressing for an FTA, etc. There's a lot more chance of Taiwan benefiting from that than this.
ReplyDelete“It’s time for the United States to stop living this lie and to formally recognize Taiwan for what it is: An independent and sovereign country.”
ReplyDeleteI am in total agreement with the above quote, and I should add that I wish my own country (Canada) would get a back-bone and recognize Taiwan as a country.
I realize there would be some backlash from the decision, but in Canada's case, it wouldn't be so bad. China needs our resources more than we need their goods, and so, it wouldn't be too long before trade relations would return to an acceptable level.
Regards,
Actually, Tancredo does that too, raj. I've blogged on his efforts before.
ReplyDeleteMichael
It saddens me that Jimmy Carter was the guy who started this mess. On other levels he rises to the occasion.
ReplyDeleteTaiwan should be in the driver's seat on sovereignty. 3 cheers to Tancredo.
Taiwan needs the political will to decide its destiny.
Thanks for posting this entry, Michael. I now have a much better idea about which U.S. representatives have their moral compasses pointed in the right direction.
ReplyDeleteWow, introduce the legislation when he knows it won't pass because Republican lost the house. Early promotion for 2008 when more Republican is going to lose seats. Too bad the California congress man live a district above me or I will write him a letter.
ReplyDeleteAnd David, are you pro-Quebec independence?
I recognize the sign in your post. It's a Cantonese BBQ in Tamsui. Am I correct? Looks like the price is about the same as last year's.
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As a Canadian, I hope David's wishes come true as well.
Although I do not support our current PM Harper, I must give him credit for telling China to mind their own business when they formally requested that a Falung Gong theatrical performance be stopped in Ottawa. Harper gave China these strong words when there was a Canadian economic team visiting China to boot.
Who knows, maybe he might surprise us.
It really is a shame that it is the conservative parties that back Taiwan, most of the time.
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This is a response to "David said": To the best of my knowledge, Canada was the first Western country to recognize China (in 1970). Actually, a day after Pierre Trudeau took office in 1968, he made this statement: "Our aim will be to recognize the People's Republic of China government as soon as possible and to enable the government to occupy the seat of China in the UN, taking into account that there is a separate government in Taiwan." Canada's efforts are seen as important in getting China into the UN and Taiwan out. I think we should also thank Chiang Kai-shek for the UN mess, as it seems he put his own ego above the interests of the country.
ReplyDelete"To the best of my knowledge, Canada was the first Western country to recognize China (in 1970)."
ReplyDeleteThe UK recognised the PRC as the government of China in 1950, although full diplomatic ties were not established until 1972.
As for western countries who formally recognised the PRC before China, the four Scandinavian countries and Switzerland did so in the 1950s and France did in 64.
Canada was the first in the scramble around the time of the ROC's withdrawal from the China seat at the UN - within the period 1970-72 most western countries formally switched recognition to Beijing.
You're dead right about CKS - a plan was floated in 71 to enable a "two Chinas" solution to the UN problem (a la West/East Germany, North/South Korea), but CKS rejected it. To have accepted it would have meant that he had given up hopes of returning to power in China. More importantly, it would have diminished the grounds for his continuing grip on power in Taiwan.