Taipei, March 31 (CNA) Taiwan is advised to be vigilant over China's espionage activities and its increasing military capability directed toward the country, a visiting former U.S. official said Thursday.
China has been extremely active in its collection of intelligence around the world, and Taiwan should be very careful with regard to China's espionage activities, given that an average of 4,000 tourists arrive in Taiwan from there every day, said former U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Randall Schriver.
Schriver, who is now president and chief executive officer of the Project 2049 Institute, a think tank focused on Asia-Pacific affairs, made the comment while referring to an espionage case last month in which an army general was detained to become the highest-ranking Taiwanese military official caught spying for China in more than two decades.
The former official spoke to reporters at the mid-point of a March 27-April 2 visit on a wide range of issues related to the triangular relations between the U.S., China and Taiwan.
Schriver expressed disagreement with the recommendation in a recent roundtable discussion in the U.S. that said the U.S. should re-examine its arms sales to Taiwan to seek better relations with China.
Joseph Prueher, former Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Pacific Command and a former U.S. ambassador to China, said Tuesday in the roundtable titled "A Way Ahead with China " organized by the University of Virginia's Miller Center of Public Affairs that the U.S. should take a fresh look at its involvement with Taiwan "outside of a military context."
On the bright side however, said Schriver, the seminar could turn out to be productive by reminding people about Taiwan and spur discussion.
He also said the throw-Taiwan-off-the-bus arguments were "pretty swiftly followed by a lot of negative responses from the policy community" and received bipartisan criticism in Washington.
Taiwan has to figure out what it wants to do to address the increasing cross-Taiwan Strait military imbalance, he said, adding that "the threat is there. It's clear. It's real."
While China said in its 2010 Defense White Paper released that same day that its military deployment is not directed toward the people of Taiwan, Schriver said the claim "does not appear to me to be factually correct."
The relationship between the U.S. and Taiwan is in "a very good state" and one that is "warm and mutually respectful, " Schriver said, adding that he could not think of any major obstacle in the future, despite the soured bilateral ties over the beef issue.
Schriver urged the U.S. to hold high-level talks with Taiwan to resolve the beef dispute because suspending talks is "counterintuitive." Meanwhile, he went on, "there are things we can do (to improve bilateral relations) notwithstanding our disagreement over beef."
Looking to the future, Schriver said that regardless of the outcome of Taiwan's 2012 presidential election, the U.S. will seek an opportunity to re-engage with Taiwan and put more energy into bilateral exchanges. (By Chris Wang) ENDITEM/J