As preparations go forward for the formal state visit of Hu Jintao of the People’s Republic of China to Washington, D.C. later this month, a large cache of secret U.S. State Department memos could upset the Chinese leader’s travel plans.
WikiLeaks has previously disclosed it has obtained 3,456 memorandums and other documents generated at the United States defacto embassy in Taipei, the American Institute in Taiwan. Over a thousand of the State Department cables are marked ‘Confidential’ with another hundred-plus cables classified as ‘Secret’ by the U.S. government.
Although none of the WikiLeaks documents generated in Taipei have yet been released a hint of the contents was revealed last week coming out of Turkey. U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates was in Turkey last year promoting the sale of American-built helicopters and missile-defense systems.
The Turkish defense forces were eager to acquire attack helicopters ahead of the production schedule. U.S. Ambassador to Turkey James Jeffrey classified a report prior to Gate’s visit where Taiwan was mentioned.
The secret cable, dated January 26, 2010, from Ankara to Washington discussed Turkey’s desire to acquire AH-1W attack helicopters ahead of an agreed production schedule.
“They do not accept our explanation that these aircraft are simply not available from our inventory….While SecDef [Gates] should make no commitment, we should also explore whether we can persuade Taiwan to sell or lease some of its own AH-1W aircraft now that Taiwan is taking delivery of Apaches.”
Speculation has run high that many of the confidential Taiwan cables held by WikiLeaks discuss military preparedness and the continuing threat of invasion from China.
Taiwan, also called Formosa, is caught in a decades-old ‘strategic ambiguity’ following World War II, fueled by both the Chinese civil war and the Cold War. By treaty, the United States is the ‘principal occupying Power’ over Taiwan which was Japanese territory at the end of World War II.
However, the United States plunged Taiwan into ‘political purgatory’ by allowing Chinese Nationalist dictator Chiang Kai-shek and his Kuomintang regime to settle on the island and govern the people. Although sovereignty of the island is still unresolved, keeping it from membership in the United Nations, the exiled Republic of China government imposed four decades of harsh martial law, imposed the Chinese language, and conscripted Taiwanese into the ROC military.
Complicating the situation, the United States has paid lip service to a ‘one China’ policy that seems to endorse Chinese dominance over Taiwan.
Previous releases of WikiLeaks documents from other parts of the world have often accompanied specific events and Hu Jintao’s visit to Washington is a likely trigger for WikiLeaks to release at least some of its files from Taipei.
The Republic of China in-exile has already prepared a work-group to handle damage-control when and if the WiliLeaks documents see the light of day. Meanwhile, everyone waits.
Source: Michael Richardson - Boston Progressive Examiner
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