Sen. Helms Joins Call for Recognition of Two Chinas

(Washington, D.C.): Against the backdrop of one of the most odious acts of kowtowing by a
senior U.S. government official to the rulers of Communist China since Brent Scowcroft and
Lawrence Eagleburger toasted them in the wake of the Tiananmen Square massacre, the
Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Jesse Helms published a forceful
repudiation of the message conveyed by National Security Advisor Samuel Berger this week in
Beijing. In the place of Berger’s fawning reaffirmation of America’s commitment to a “One
China” policy — a policy that Beijing interprets to confer the right to reunify with Taiwan by
force if necessary — Sen. Helms wrote in an op.ed. article published in today’s Washington
Post
that “the United States can no longer continue a policy pretending that the 22 million people of
Taiwan do not exist. The United States must recognize the reality of two Chinese states.”

The practical steps Chairman Helms calls for to assure the security and safety of the
democratic
China take on all the greater urgency in light of a highly classified Pentagon study about the
serious deficiencies in Taiwan’s defense posture — deficiencies the Communist China is striving
to be able to exploit. According to a front-page article in today’s Washington
Post, this study —
which is being withheld from the Congress where it would almost certainly serve to encourage
enactment of the Taiwan Security Enhancement Act (TSEA) — concludes that “Taiwan’s military
capability has been weakened by the island’s diplomatic isolation….’There is no other military in
the world that experiences the kind of isolation Taiwan’s does,’ [an] administration official said
in summarizing the report. ‘They don’t train or have contacts with anyone. And as warfare has
become more complex, it has become more difficult for them to handle all these new
technologies.’

Sen. Helms is to be commended for joining House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-TX), the
other
principal sponsor of the TSEA, in saying the heretofore unsayable: The “One China” emperor
has no clothes, and the sooner the United States government recognizes that reality — and
recognizes the sovereignty of Taiwan — the sooner Free China’s isolation will end, the sooner a
dangerous imbalance of power across the Taiwan Straits will be rectified and the greater the
chances will be that the two Chinas will achieve a peaceful unification under a democratic
government.

Washington Post, 31 March 2000

Two Chinese States

By Jesse Helms

Chen Shui-bian’s election as president of the Republic of China on Taiwan dramatically and
instantly raised the stakes for U.S. policy in the Taiwan Strait.

Lee Teng-hui’s election in 1996 was the first direct, popular election of a head of state in
Chinese
history. President-elect Chen’s election marks the first peaceful transfer of power from a ruling
Chinese party to its democratic opposition.

Taiwan’s democratic transformation, begun by President Lee, is complete. The Republic of
China’s experiment in democracy is no longer an experiment–it is a proven reality. The nation
that was known for the better part of 40 years as “Nationalist China” now is “Democratic China.”

No wonder Beijing feels so threatened.

Beijing is worried about the precedent that the people of Taiwan have set. For the past
decade,
mainland officials have justified their tyrannical rule by dismissing Taiwan’s democracy as a
ruse. The Nationalists (they told people on the mainland) have held power for 40 years, just as
we have held power for 40 years.

No longer. Taiwan’s democracy can never again be dismissed so easily, and Beijing is
nervous
that people on the mainland may now begin to ask: “What about us?” That is why, in the days
leading up to Taiwan’s election, mainland officials sought desperately to scare Taiwanese voters
into rejecting Chen. Premier Zhu Rongji went so far as to warn the people of Taiwan that if they
elected Chen, they “won’t get another opportunity to regret.” The people of Taiwan told Zhu
what he could do with his threats. Now it is the United States’ responsibility to ensure that Zhu
can never fulfill his threat to make Chen’s election the final democratic election in China.

For eight years, the Clinton administration has tried to buy peace in the Taiwan Strait by
kowtowing to the Chinese Communists and suggesting incredibly that Hong Kong and Macau
could serve as models for Taiwan’s reunification. Beijing’s response has been to engage in a
massive military buildup aimed at Taiwan and issue new threats against the island, dramatically
lowering the bar for an armed invasion. Yet the administration sticks doggedly by its
Chamberlainesque approach, promising this year to reward China’s belligerent behavior by
seeking permanent most favored nation status for China, while doing absolutely nothing to
recognize Taiwan’s achievements or help Taiwan deter Chinese aggression.

Those who support economic engagement with China must recognize the Clinton policy for
what
it is–appeasement. Continuing it in the wake of Chen Shui-bian’s election is a recipe for disaster.
We must have a new approach. Such a new U.S. approach to Taiwan must have two dimensions:
a security dimension, designed to close off Beijing’s avenues to destructive behavior; and a
political dimension, which recognizes Taiwan’s democratic development and seeks to bring
Taiwan out of its international isolation.

A new policy must also recognize that the military balance of power of the past 20
years–when it
was widely assumed that Taiwan had air superiority and could thereby thwart any attempted
invasion or blockade by the mainland–is quickly shifting in Beijing’s favor. China is adding 50
missiles a year along the coast of Taiwan in preparation for an attack, and has just begun
acquiring Russian destroyers armed with advanced “sunburn missiles.” According to the
Pentagon, within five years China will have attained air superiority over Taiwan, and will be
capable of enforcing a blockade of the island.

The United States must make clear to Beijing that there is no military option in dealing with
Taiwan by (1) approving Taiwan’s full defense request, including AIM-120 air-defense missiles,
diesel submarines and Aegis destroyers with early warning radars; (2) sharing theater missile
defense technology with the aim of bringing Taiwan under a regional missile-defense umbrella;
(3) passing the Taiwan Security Enhancement Act, which will junk antiquated restrictions
prohibiting senior U.S. officers from visiting Taiwan, expand the advice our experts can give
them and establish direct, secure communications between our two militaries.

The United States can help Chen restart the cross-strait dialogue only by allowing Taiwan to
engage the mainland on the basis of peace through strength. A renewed dialogue with Beijing
can be successful only if it is undertaken on the basis of political strength as well. Just as East
and West Germany were part of “one Germany,” they were nonetheless separate “states.” The
same holds true for the two Korean states and for the two Chinese states–the People’s Republic
of China in Beijing and the Republic of China on Taiwan.

Accepting this objective reality does not require abandoning the possibility of reunification.
Just
as the two German states eventually reunited under democracy, so too do we hope that the two
Chinese states may one day reunite–under democracy.

Until then, the United States can no longer continue a policy pretending that the 22 million
people of Taiwan do not exist. The United States must recognize the reality of two Chinese states
by championing Taiwan’s gradual entry, alongside Communist China, into international
organizations, such as the World Trade Organization, the World Health Organization and
eventually the United Nations.

Chen Shui-bian’s election should serve as a wake-up call to the United States and the world:
“Democratic China” has arrived and demands recognition.

The writer, a Republican senator from North Carolina, is chairman of the Committee
on Foreign
Relations.