President Obama will not change any U.S. Taiwan policy: AIT chief

Taiwan News, Staff Writer

2009-11-23 06:25 PM

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – United States President Barack Obama will not change anything about his country’s policies towards Taiwan, visiting American Institute in Taiwan Chairman Raymond Burghardt said Monday.
The top U.S. liaison officer with Taiwan is visiting the country to inform political leaders about last week’s meeting by President Obama with his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao in Beijing.

After talking to Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng, Burghardt said Obama had told Hu face to face that he would not change existing Taiwan policies, including the sale of American arms.

Taiwan is expecting Washington to approve the sale of more advanced F-16 C/D fighter jets, but concern continues that the deal will be postponed or canceled altogether because of China’s vehement protests against arms sales to the island nation.

The Taiwan Relations Act approved by the U.S. Congress after Washington switched recognition to China in 1979 allows for the sale of defensive weapons to Taipei.

Obama mentioned the act in the news communiqué, Burghardt said. “That was a personal desire by him to make sure it was mentioned,” the AIT chief was quoted as saying.

Wang said he told Burghardt that U.S. leaders would carefully weigh any public statement involving Taiwan’s sovereignty because it could have a grave impact on the country’s status. Any such U.S. comment should be clear and not leave any room for interpretation or imagination, Wang said.

The chief of the Legislative Yuan said he expected the U.S. to evaluate seriously how to protect Taiwan’s security and the rights of its people.

Burghardt described the recent concerns over the safety of U.S. bone-in beef as a “phony issue” because the meat to be imported to Taiwan was the same consumed each day by millions of Americans.

A public outcry broke out last month after Taipei and Washington signed a protocol to allow the import of bone-in beef and other products thought to carry the risk of bovine spongiform encephalopathy or mad cow disease.

Consecutive Taiwanese governments evaluated the risks of U.S. beef and concluded that it was safe, Burghardt said Monday.

During the discussions, Wang said he also brought up Taiwan’s wish for a U.S. visa waiver and for trade liberalization talks.

The AIT chief is scheduled to meet President Ma Ying-jeou on Tuesday, while talks with Premier Wu Den-yih, Mainland Affairs Council Chairwoman Lai Shin-yuan and opposition Democratic Progressive Party Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen were also on the agenda.