China, Again

Remember China threatening to destroy Taiwan if they continued to seek independance? Well ...

U.S. rebukes China's Taiwan threat

"We reject those portions of the statement that threaten the use of force to resolve differences between Beijing and Taipei," a senior Bush administration official said.

"Threats to use force have no place in civilized international discourse, and Beijing merely hurts its own case by using them," the official added.

"Such comments are especially unhelpful at this delicate time, and they necessitate that we firmly restate our intention to fulfill our obligations under the Taiwan Relations Act."

The Taiwan Relations Act

It is the policy of the United States -

* (1) to preserve and promote extensive, close, and friendly commercial, cultural, and other relations between the people of the United States and the people on Taiwan, as well as the people on the China mainland and all other peoples of the Western Pacific area;
* (2) to declare that peace and stability in the area are in the political, security, and economic interests of the United States, and are matters of international concern;
* (3) to make clear that the United States decision to establish diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China rests upon the expectation that the future of Taiwan will be determined by peaceful means;
* (4) to consider any effort to determine the future of Taiwan by other than peaceful means, including by boycotts or embargoes, a threat to the peace and security of the Western Pacific area and of grave concern to the United States;
* (5) to provide Taiwan with arms of a defensive character; and
* (6) to maintain the capacity of the United States to resist any resort to force or other forms of coercion that would jeopardize the security, or the social or economic system, of the people on Taiwan.