Asia-Pacific News
Taipei welcomes Obama's mention of Taiwan Relations Act
Nov 17, 2009, 12:52 GMT
Taipei - Taiwan on Tuesday welcomed US President Barack Obama's mentioning the Taiwan Relations Act in his Beijing speech, seeing it as Washington's assurance it would heed Taipei's defence needs.
President Ma Ying-jeou said that Obama's reference to the act - in which the US pledges to sell defensive arms to Taipei - at a news conference with Chinese President Hu Jintao shows that Taiwan-US mutual trust has been fully restored.
'This is the first time since 2003 [that a US president has mentioned the Taiwan Relations Act front of a Chinese leader]. This is the best moment for China-Taiwan-US triangle ties,' Ma said.
However, some scholars and the opposition Democratic Progressive Party criticized that the act was not referred to in a joint communique signed by Obama and Hu.
Obama on Tuesday lauded improved Taipei-Beijing ties: 'Our own policy, based on the three US-China communiques and the Taiwan Relations Act, supports further development of these ties ...'
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