U.S. Navy needs geography lesson for confusing Taiwan with Thailand
U.S. Navy needs geography lesson for confusing Taiwan with Thailand on official website
Michael Richardson
August 5
USS Ronald Reagan led a RIMPAC flotilla that did not include the Republic of China
United States Navy photo
The recently completed RIMPAC [Rim of the Pacific] multi-national exercises were billed in the media as a show of United States’ solidarity with South Korea in the wake of the sinking of the Cheonan by a suspected North Korean submarine. It was an Asian tour de force.
The nearly month-long exercises were heavily promoted by the American military in an extensive media campaign. The U.S. Navy listed “Taiwan” on its website as a participating country in the exercise along with South Korea, Japan, France, Australia, Singapore, Canada, and others.
The Republic of China in-exile’s participation in the international show of force led by the mighty USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier would have been a not so subtle message to the People’s Republic of China. Often ignored by the news media, Chinese claims on Taiwan and its military threat underlie virtually all contact between China and the United States.
Although ROC forces would have benefited from the RIMPAC training, the exiled Chinese government was excluded because of the island’s unresolved status. The Navy official responsible for listing Taiwan as a RIMPAC participant should have listed Thailand instead.
The RIMPAC Command public affairs office made light of the Navy error calling the geographical snafu a “typographical” mistake. The RIMPAC Command searched the Navy website for other “typos” confusing Taiwan with Thailand. At least two photo captions of the RIMPAC flotilla had the erroneous designation. The Navy mistake created a stir on Taiwanese internet listserves and websites.
Under terms of the San Francisco Peace Treaty that officially ended World War II between the United States and Japan the U.S. was named “principal occupying Power” of Taiwan. The treaty, ratified in 1952, is still in effect and the United States has never renounced its responsibility for Taiwan‘s status, despite six decades of “strategic ambiguity”.
Taiwan’s unresolved international status keeps the island out of the United Nations and denied membership in the World Health Organization. Administered by the exiled Republic of China, imposed on the island by the United States military, the island residents suffer under “political purgatory” according to the District of Columbia U.S. Court of Appeals. In a decision last year the federal appellate court urged President Barack Obama to act “expeditiously” to resolve sovereignty of Taiwan.
President Obama has given no indication of a change of policy and has adhered to his predecessors’ “strategic ambiguity” as Taiwan’s status quo leaving Taiwan out of RIMPAC and off the map of nations.
examiner.com
