David Funderburk: “the absence of effective American leadership in East Asia is a major contributing factor to the current heightened…”

“the absence of effective American leadership in East Asia is a major contributing factor to the current heightened crisis in the Taiwan Strait. For the past 25 years our relationship with the Communist People's Republic of China has been contingent upon a peaceful resolution of the Taiwan issue. Before the United States Congress enacted the Taiwan Relations Act, the executive branch of all administrations, from Nixon to the present, committed to the peaceful resolution on the future of Taiwan. The current crisis in the Taiwan Straits seriously jeopardizes this understanding and the condition of the diplomatic relations between the United States and the People's Republic of China. We must send an unambiguous message to Beijing that the United States will not stand by idly while the future of Taiwan is threatened. To this end the United States must stand ready to defend Taiwan against any resort of force or other forms of coercion that would jeopardize Taiwan's security.”