WASHINGTON (Pacnews) — The United States has a commitment to defend Taiwan, but then-President Bill Clinton’s deployment of two aircraft carriers near Taiwan in 1996 should not happen again, according to the chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives’ newly created subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific and the Global Environment.
Congressman Eni Faleomavaega, D-American Samoa, said that although he sees Taiwan as a democracy and believes that its people should decide their future, he does not want Taipei to make trouble and then leave the U.S. and China to fight it out.
The U.S. does not need another military conflict, he added. The delegate from American Samoa added that the U.S. Congress is very concerned about China’s development of anti-satellite missile capabilities and that the China might be able to knock out U.S. surveillance satellites.