US hopes to
boost ties with Taiwan's Presidential Office
2002/01/04
Taipeitimes
By Nadia Tsao
STAFF REPORTER IN WASHINGTON
The US hopes to strengthen ties with Taiwan's
Presidential Office as well as ensure Taiwan's national defense,
sources in Washington said.
In the past, the US has dealt solely with the Ministry of National
Defense in discussing security. But the defense ministry has
only provided military perspectives on the region's security
and, sources said, the trend toward civilian leadership should
result in the role of Taiwan's military becoming "normalized."
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) has already had three face-to-face
briefings from US military delegations to give him a more thorough
understanding of Taiwan-US military cooperation, the sources
said.
At high-level joint security talks that began in July last
year, the US requested that Taiwan send representatives from
the Mainland Affairs Council, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and
National Security Council to attend.
In future, the US also hopes to strengthen
contacts with the National Security Council (NSC), which, the
sources said, can play a coordinating role and integrate views
within Taiwan on national security and strategic issues.
Taiwanese officials confirmed that
the administration of US President George W. Bush would be happy
to see Taiwan's NSC play a greater role in US-Taiwan security
and strategic discussions.
The US government will strengthen direct communication with
Taiwan's NSC on important military and security issues that
affect the US and Taiwan, the officials said.
Through the NSC, the US will provide analyses and suggestions
to Chen. With this in mind, the NSC will have to attract talent
and strengthen is capabilities to deal with the increased responsibility,
the officials said.
The US believes that the trend toward
civilian control of the military will spread throughout Asia.
A Bush administration official who requested anonymity said
the US believes Taiwan and even China will move toward civilian
leadership of the military.
The official said this reflects pragmatic considerations rather
than a concession to US values. In the US, civilian leadership
of the military has proved more stable and has made it more
difficult for the military to act against the interests of the
people, he said.
The US believes Taiwan is moving in that direction, the official
said, and that other Asian countries may do so in the future.
He added that the US did not want to dictate to Taiwan and
that it believes Taiwan will make the right decisions.
Translated by Francis Huang
