MISGUIDED:Many academics have misinterpreted the US policy as ‘recognition’ of the ‘one China’ principle, instead of a simple acknowledgement, an ex-minister said
Taipei Times
Date: Dec 15, 2016
By: Alison Hsiao / Staff reporter
Former minister of foreign affairs Mark Chen (陳唐山) yesterday engaged in a lively debate with a
Former minister of foreign affairs Mark Chen speaks to reporters at the “Taiwan-US-Japan and Asia-Pacific Regional Partners Security Dialogue” conference in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Lu Yi-hsuan, Taipei Times
US representative on whether Washington “recognizes” or simply “acknowledges” that Taiwan is part of China, urging her to have a good look at the Shanghai Communique after she opted for the former.
Speaking at the Taiwan-US-Japan and Asia-Pacific Regional Partners Security Dialogue in Taipei, Chen brought up the recently much-
discussed “one China” policy of the US, saying that while then-US president Jimmy Carter switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979, the Shanghai Communique signed by then-US president Richard Nixon in 1972 does not indicate Washington “recognizes” that Taiwan is part of China.
“I have to bring this up because many scholars have misinterpreted the ‘one China’ policy,” said Chen, chairman of the Prospect Foundation, which cohosted the seminar.
The truth is the “US has to this point never recognized that Taiwan is part of China,” he said.
“In the Shanghai Communique, the Chinese side states that there is only one China and Taiwan is part of China, but when it comes to the American side, it simply says that [the US] ‘acknowledges’ [Beijing’s] position that there is one China and Taiwan is part of China,” Chen said, adding that the US did not include the word “recognize.” [FULL STORY]
