DATE=11/5/03

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=POWELL/CHINA/TAIWAN (S)

NUMBER=2-309479

BYLINE=DAVID GOLLUST

DATELINE=STATE DEPARTMENT

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Secretary of State Colin Powell has reaffirmed the U-S commitment to a "one-China policy and assured Beijing the Bush administration has no "hidden agendas" with Taiwan. But at a China seminar in Texas, Mr. Powell said the United States is concerned about a Chinese military buildup near Taiwan. V-O-A's David Gollust reports from the State Department.

TEXT: Mr. Powell irritated Chinese officials earlier this week when he shook hands and exchanged pleasantries with Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian at a diplomatic reception in Panama.

But in his address at Texas A-and-M university, he made clear the encounter signaled no change in the "one-China" policy that has prevailed since the United States switched recognition from Taiwan to Beijing more than two-decades ago:

/// POWELL ACT ONE ///

We have no hidden agendas here. There is no other agenda but our single policy, our one-China policy, which is clear-cut, which is principled. It has served us well for a number of decades.

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Mr. Powell said there have been "promising" cross-strait exchanges between China and Taiwan, but also said China's military buildup on the mainland opposite Taiwan "sends a very different kind of signal."

He said whether China chooses peace, or coercion, to resolve its differences with Taiwan will say "a great deal" about the kind of role China seeks with its neighbors and with the United States. (SIGNED)

NEB/DAG/RH/RAE