Brookings Fellow Argues Cross Strait situation unstable

The Taipei Times said that Brookings released a "study" but all I could find was this short commentary by Liu Shih-chung. Is this what the TT was referring to?

“From Taiwan’s perspective, given the recent temporary stabilization of cross-strait relations since the Ma Ying-jeou [馬英九] government took power, the issue of Taiwan will probably not become a contentious topic between Washington and Beijing, as it was in the past,” Liu said.

A counselor to former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) from 2000 to 2006 and vice chairman of the Research and Planning Committee at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2006 to last year, he said that Clinton’s meetings would demonstrate whether the administration of US President Barack Obama would introduce a new approach to China.

“The fact that the current cross-strait detente initiated by Taiwan’s government has not received a sufficient good-will response from Beijing — especially when it comes to Taiwan’s international space and China’s reduction of military threats to the island — suggest potential instability in the near future,” Liu said.

“The opposition party in Taiwan requests more caution and prudence from President Ma in dealing with China. The US defense community also expressed worry over a potential asymmetric game between Taipei and Beijing in favor of the latter. Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair said recently that Washington will continue to supply necessary and defensive-oriented arms sales to Taiwan, in line with the Taiwan Relations Act, to balance Beijing’s continuing military build-up,” the study said.

Liu said there was still uncertainty on the extent to which a healthy and peaceful cross-strait relationship could be achieved in the absence of a strong US commitment to and support for Taiwan’s democracy and security.

Brookings is a key think tank for the Obama Administration; its Asia people come direct from there. Richard Bush, whom many believe is in line for the next director of AIT here is director there of the center for northeast Asian policy studies. It's good that Liu Shih-chung is speaking sense in their publications.

I must also point out that this is what I've been saying for quite some time now -- the election of Ma Ying-jeou has destabilized the cross-strait situation for reasons often enumerated in this blog. Good to hear someone else saying it publicly.

[Taiwan]