Two months after the US’ decision in September to provide defensive weapons to Taiwan and upgrade its fleet of F-16A/B aircraft, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton gave a speech in which she said emphatically that Taiwan was an important security and economic partner of the US (“Clinton issues call for US ‘Pacific Century,’” Nov. 12, page 1).
Soon afterward, two senior US officials were sent to Taiwan to highlight the importance of US-Taiwan ties.