World

Taiwan Key Topic In Talks

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

March 21, 2001 / 8:00 PM EST / CBS

The U.S. defense relationship with Taiwan was a main topic Wednesday night for a meeting between Secretary of State Colin Powell and a top Chinese official.

Deputy Prime Minister Qian Qichen made clear before his arrival in Washington that China would strenuously oppose the sale to Taiwan of four U.S. destroyers with highly sophisticated radar equipment.

It was not clear whether Powell was prepared to address the issue in any depth because the State Department has said it is longstanding U.S. policy not to consult with China on U.S. arms sales policy toward the island. Qian was to meet with President Bush on Thursday.

On Tuesday, Qian warned that Chinese-American relations would suffer a "very serious" setback if Taiwan receives permission to buy the destroyers.

The proposed sale involves ships equipped with the Aegis combat system, an extremely sophisticated radar system that allows for advanced attack and defensive operations.

Taiwan wants to buy the vessels but the administration has offered no hint as to whether the request will be approved. U.S. policy is to meet Taiwan's legitimate defense needs.

If the sale is authorized, Qian said "the essence of the issue would change from a peaceful approach to reunification to a military approach."

Asked if that meant immediate military action against Taiwan, he said only, "It all depends on the circumstances."

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher, responding to the comment on Wednesday, said U.S. policy all along has been in support of peaceful resolution.

"We've always said that we would see a resort to anything other than peaceful means as something of grave concern to us," he said.

Boucher said other areas of difference were likely to be discussed, including human rights and the administration's plans to deploy a missile defense system.

On a separate issue, Boucher called for the immediate release of Gao Zhan, a Chinese-born American University professor who was picked up at Beijing airport on Feb. 11 with her husband and 5-year-old son.

Her husband, Xue Donghua, and son were held separately for 26 days before being allowed to return to the United States.

The couple are permanent U.S. residents, and the son is a citizen.

Authorities failed to inform the U.S. Embassy of the son's detention as required by treaty, said a human rights group, Human Rights in China. It quoted Xue as saying his son was traumatized by being held separately from his parents.

"We have raised the reports of Ms. Gao's detention with Chinese authorities. We've asked them to release her immediately," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said, adding that he was not aware that any "significant explanation" had been given for her case.

Boucher said the embassy in Beijing had raised her detention with the Chinese authorities "repetedly".

Xue, a computer systems analyst at Texas-based Electronic Data Systems, said he was repeatedly interrogated about Gao's sociological research and two visits to Taiwan, and that he was told he could only see his son if he testified against his wife.