Taiwan Strait tension cools off

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The United States sent three aircraft carrier strike groups to waters around Taiwan after China told U.S. officials last year there was high risk of a military incident after Taiwan's March 22 presidential election, according to Pentagon and military officials.

One strike group has been redeployed to the Persian Gulf since the failure of an election-day referendum strongly opposed by Beijing, but two groups remain near the island, the officials said. The Chinese warning, described in a March 31 Pentagon report to Congress, said the danger period would continue until the inauguration of the new Taiwan government next month.

Chinese Embassy Press Counselor Wang Baodong said last night that his government thinks the situation in the Taiwan Strait is "a bit more relaxed" since the defeat of the referendum, which Beijing saw as a step toward independence. "But we still think that the situation is very sensitive and complicated," he said.

Mr. Wang declined to comment on the deployment of the three aircraft carrier strike groups, led by the USS Kitty Hawk, the USS Nimitz and the USS Abraham Lincoln.

The American military officials said U.S. fears had been heightened shortly before the election, in which a pro-independence party's presidential candidate was defeated, because U.S. intelligence agencies determined that Chinese mobile short-range missile units within range of Taiwan had been moved to a heightened alert status.

The activity was interpreted as a signal that China might try to intimidate the Taiwan government and people with missile test firings, as occurred before their 1996 presidential election, or in the worst case, an actual attack. China has between 900 and 1,000 missiles deployed within range of the island that Beijing considers a breakaway province.

The Chinese warning was described in an 11-page report on U.S.-China military exchanges sent to Congress two weeks ago from Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England.

Chinese officials described the Taiwan Strait situation as "increasingly dangerous" during one such military exchange in 2007, the report said.

"Chinese officials assessed as 'high,' the risk of an 'incident' occurring during the time between the March 2008 election and the May 2008 Taiwan presidential inauguration, and called on the United States to make more direct and open statements opposing the referendum [on United Nations membership] at higher levels than the United States has previously issued," the report said.

The referendum asked whether the island's government should seek to join the United Nations under the name Taiwan, instead of its formal name the Republic of China, a move Beijing regarded as a step toward formal independence. The vote failed to approve the measure.