蓬佩奧：美國取消與台灣接觸的限制

BBC News on-line reported the following on 10.1.2021:

Pompeo: US to lift restrictions on contacts with Taiwan

Published10 hours ago

The US is lifting long-standing restrictions on contacts between American and Taiwanese officials, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says.

The "self-imposed restrictions" were introduced decades ago to "appease" the mainland Chinese government, which lays claim to the island, the US state department said in a statement.

These rules are now "null and void".

The move is likely to anger China and increase tensions between Washington and Beijing.

It comes as the Trump administration enters its final days ahead of the inauguration of Joe Biden as president on 20 January.

The Biden transition team have said the president-elect is committed to maintaining the previous US policy towards Taiwan.

Analysts say they will be unhappy with such a policy decision being made in the final days of the Trump administration, but that the move could be reversed easily by Mr. Pompeo's successor Antony Blinken.

China regards Taiwan as a breakaway province, but Taiwan's leaders argue that it is a sovereign state.

Relations between the two are frayed and there is a constant threat of a violent flare up that could drag in the US, an ally of Taiwan.

In a statement on Saturday, Mr. Pompeo said the US state department had introduced complicated restrictions limiting the communication between American diplomats and their Taiwanese counterparts.

"Today I am announcing that I am lifting all of these self-imposed restrictions," he said. "Today's statement recognizes that the US-Taiwan relationship need not, and should not, be shackled by self-imposed restrictions of our permanent bureaucracy."

He added that Taiwan was a vibrant democracy and a reliable US partner, and that the restrictions were no longer valid.

Following the announcement, Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu thanked Mr. Pompeo, saying he was "grateful".

"The closer partnership between Taiwan and the US is firmly based on our shared values, common interests and unshakeable belief in freedom and democracy," he wrote in a tweet.

Last August, US Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar became the highest-ranking US politician to hold meetings on the island for decades.

In response, China urged the US to respect what it calls its "one China" principle.

The US also sells arms to Taiwan, though it does not have a formal defense treaty with the country, as it does with Japan, South Korea and the Philippines.

China and Taiwan were divided during a civil war in the 1940s.

Beijing has long tried to limit Taiwan's international activities and both have vied for influence in the Pacific region.

Tensions have increased in recent years and Beijing has not ruled out the use of force to take the island back.

Although Taiwan is officially recognized by only a handful of nations, its democratically-elected government has strong commercial and informal links with many countries.

Translation

國務卿邁克·蓬佩奧(Mike Pompeo) 說，美國正在取消對美國和台灣官員之間接觸的長期限制。

美國國務院在一份聲明中說，“自我施加的限制”是幾十年前引入的，目的是“安撫” 聲稱擁有這島嶼的中國大陸政府。

這些規則現在是“無效”。

此舉可能激怒中國並加劇華盛頓與北京之間的緊張關係。

事情發生在特朗普政府進入最後的日子, 在喬·拜登(Joe Biden)於1月20日就任總統就職典禮之前。

拜登過渡小組曾說，當選總統致力於維持美國先前對台灣的政策。

分析人士表示，小組將不滿特朗普政府在最後幾天做出這一政策決定，但蓬佩奧的繼任者Antony Blinken可以很容易地扭轉這一舉動。

中國把台灣視為一個分裂的省，但台灣領導人認為台灣是一個主權國家。

兩者之間的關係已經磨損，而且持續不斷的武力爆發的威脅可能會拖累台灣的盟友美國。

蓬佩奧在周六發表的一份聲明中說，美國國務院至今引入了複雜的限制措施，限制了美國外交官與台灣同行之間的溝通。

他說：“今天，我宣布我將取消所有這些自我施加的限制。” “今天的聲明承認，美台關係沒有必要, 也不應因我們常駐官僚機構的自我施加的限制而受束縛。”

他補充說，台灣是一個充滿活力的民主國家，是美國可信賴的伙伴，這些限制不再有效。

宣布消息後，台灣外相吳釗燮對蓬佩奧先生表示“感謝”。

他在推特上寫道：“台灣與美國之間更緊密的伙伴關係牢固地基於我們的共同價值觀，共同利益和對自由與民主的堅定信念。”

去年八月，美國衛生與公共服務部長Alex Azar成為數十年來在這島上舉行會議的美國最高級政治人物。

作為回應，中國敦促美國尊重所謂的“一個中國”原則。

美國也向台灣出售武器，儘管與它沒有正式的國防條約, 例如與日本，韓國和菲律賓。

中國和台灣在1940年代的內戰中分裂。

北京長期以來一直試圖限制台灣的國際活動，而且兩者都爭奪在太平洋地區的影響力。

近年來，緊張局勢加劇，北京不排除使用武力奪回該島。

儘管只有少數幾個國家正式承認台灣，但其民選政府與許多國家都有著牢固的商業和非正式聯繫。

              For mainland China, the Taiwan issue is the most important topic in its relationship with the US. In recent months, Pompeo has been taking actions to escalate the US -Taiwan connection while CCP is watching and condemning. I am interested to see how Joe Biden will handle this after taking office. If the matter is not handled carefully, it could cause explosive consequence. For those who are interested the background on how the US government developed its foreign policy toward China since the late the Qing dynasty and up to 1949,  a book entitled the “China White Paper” could be useful. My blog dated 29^th November 2009 (tag: 書本摘要) has talked about to this book.

The China White Paper