1.媒体来源:
英国金融时报(Financial Times)
2.记者署名:
Demetri Sevastopulo，华盛顿报导 2024/08/22 11:17pm
3.完整新闻标题:
Taiwan’s top security officials make secret trip to US for talks
台湾高级安全官员秘密访美进行会谈
4.完整新闻内文:
[原文]
Taiwan’s top security officials make secret trip to US for talks
Visit to Washington area this week comes at sensitive time in relations
between Beijing and Taipei
Taiwan’s top foreign policy officials have made a secret trip to the greater
Washington area for talks with the US, the first such visit since President
Lai Ching-te took office in May.
Foreign minister Lin Chia-lung and Joseph Wu, Taiwan’s national security
adviser, have been in the Washington area this week for the talks that are
known as the “special channel”, according to several people familiar with
the visit.
The US and Taiwan have held the “special channel” talks for years, but
their existence was first disclosed by the Financial Times in 2021 when the
two sides, including Wu who was then foreign minister, met in Annapolis,
Maryland. The channel is seen as a rare opportunity for a larger group of
senior officials from both sides to hold detailed talks.
Successive US administrations have kept the channel under wraps to avoid
Chinese criticism of the sensitive engagement. Beijing claims sovereignty
over Taiwan, which has maintained an unofficial relationship with Washington
since the US normalised relations with China in 1979.
The last special channel was in February 2023 when Wu and Wellington Koo,
then national security adviser and now defence minister, met the US side
across the river from Washington in northern Virginia.
Under a long-standing practice, Taiwan’s foreign minister and defence
minister cannot enter the District of Columbia, so the channel has usually
been held in the greater Washington area.
The people familiar with the situation did not disclose the location or the
timing of the discussions.he Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative
Office, the de facto Taiwanese embassy in Washington, declined to comment on
the talks. The White House declined to comment.
The channel comes at a sensitive time as China watches to see how Lai will
handle relations with Beijing and Washington. The Chinese government has
described Lai as a “dangerous separatist” and worries that he is more
likely to take steps towards official independence than his predecessor Tsai
Ing-wen. Some US officials are also privately nervous about Lai, who is
inexperienced in foreign affairs and seen as more unpredictable than Tsai.
Evan Medeiros, a China expert at Georgetown University and former top White
House Asia adviser, said the special channel was “one of the most sensitive
and important mechanisms in global politics today”.
“The meeting comes at a critical time given Taiwan’s recent election. Clear
and consistent communication between Taipei and Washington is essential,
especially as People’s Republic of China pressure grows,” Medeiros added.
The US has grown increasingly concerned about rising Chinese military
activity around Taiwan. China held huge military exercises around the island,
including firing ballistic missiles overhead for the first time, in 2022 just
after then US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei. It has intensified
its military activity since the Pelosi visit.
Randy Schriver, a former top Pentagon Asia official, said the special channel
was always important because of the limited contacts allowed because of the
unofficial relationship”. But he said it was particularly so now given the
increasingly assertive Chinese military activity near Taiwan.
“A lot of people have the impression that [People’s Liberation Army]
military activity spikes around events like the Pelosi visit or
[presidential] inaugurations and then enters a normal and steady status quo,
but the PLA continues to do more things and evolve. We are seeing more
night-time exercises and things like air-air refuelling on the eastern side
of Taiwan,” he said, citing one example.
[以下机翻]
台湾高级安全官员秘密访美进行会谈
本周访问华盛顿地区的行程，正值北京与台北关系敏感时期
作者：Demetri Sevastopulo，华盛顿报导
台湾最高外交政策官员已秘密访问大华盛顿地区,与美国进行会谈。
这是赖清德总统今年5月上任以来的首次此类访问。
据多位知情人士透露,台湾外交部长林佳龙和国家安全顾问吴钊燮本周在华盛顿地区参加
了被称为"特殊管道"的会谈。
美国和台湾多年来一直进行"特殊管道"会谈,但其存在首次被英国《金融时报》于2021年
披露,当时包括时任外交部长吴钊燮在内的双方代表在马里兰州安纳波利斯会面。这一管
道被视为双方高级官员难得的机会,可以进行详细讨论。
历届美国政府都对这一管道保密,以避免引起中国对这种敏感接触的批评。北京宣称对台
湾拥有主权,而台湾自1979年美国与中国建交以来一直与华盛顿保持非官方关系。
上一次特殊管道会谈是在2023年2月,当时吴钊燮和时任国家安全顾问、现任国防部长的顾
立雄在华盛顿对岸的北弗吉尼亚州与美方会面。
根据长期惯例,台湾的外交部长和国防部长不能进入哥伦比亚特区,所以这一管道的会谈通
常在大华盛顿地区举行。
知情人士并未透露讨论的具体地点和时间。台北驻美国经济文化代表处(实际上是台湾在
华盛顿的大使馆)拒绝就会谈置评。白宫也拒绝评论。
这次会谈正值敏感时期,中国正在观察赖清德将如何处理与北京和华盛顿的关系。中国政
府将赖清德描述为"危险的分离主义分子",并担心他比前任蔡英文更有可能采取走向正式
独立的步骤。一些美国官员私下也对赖清德感到紧张,认为他在外交事务上缺乏经验,比蔡
英文更难以预测。
乔治城大学中国问题专家、前白宫亚洲事务高级顾问埃文·梅代罗斯表示,"特殊管道是当
今全球政治中最敏感和最重要的机制之一"。
梅代罗斯补充道:"鉴于台湾最近的选举,这次会议来得正是时候。台北和华盛顿之间清晰
一致的沟通至关重要,尤其是在中华人民共和国施加的压力不断增大的情况下。"
美国越来越担心中国在台湾周边不断增加的军事活动。2022年,在时任美国众议院议长佩
洛西访问台北后不久,中国在该岛周边举行了大规模军事演习,包括首次在台湾上空发射弹
道导弹。自佩洛西访台以来,中国加强了军事活动。
前五角大楼亚洲事务高级官员蓝迪·施瑞佛表示,由于非官方关系允许的接触有限,特殊管
道一直很重要。但他说,鉴于中国军队在台湾附近日益强硬的军事活动,现在这一管道尤其
重要。
施瑞佛说:"许多人认为中国人民解放军的军事活动在佩洛西访问或总统就职等事件前
后会激增,然后回到正常稳定的状态,但解放军不断在做更多事情并不断演变。我们看到更
多夜间演习,以及在台湾东侧进行空中加油等活动。"
5.完整新闻连结 (或短网址)不可用YAHOO、LINE、MSN等转载媒体:
https://www.ft.com/content/c4c5f7b3-9506-422b-a892-7b89e90a1631