Taiwan: Future US Defense Secretary Backs Defense of Taiwan
Below is an article published on the Taipei Times Website:
Robert Gates, who has been nominated to replace US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, presented his assessment of cross-strait tensions in written statements to the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday in advance of panel hearings scheduled for next week on his confirmation to the post.
Self-defense
"We should maintain our capabilities to resist
Gates wrote that while
Confirmation hearing
Gates' comments were in the form of answers to questions posed by committee members as they prepare to question him on
Pentagon spokesmen would not supply the text of Gates' answers, saying that as Gates was not yet defense secretary, the defense secretary's office did not have a role in supplying the information to the congressional committee.
Official sources say the White House gave the documents to the committee on Tuesday.
The Washington Post and New York Times ran stories about Gates' testimony in their Wednesday editions, but focused almost exclusively on Gates' comments on
The New York Times did not mention
Rumsfeld resigned as defense secretary on Nov. 8, the day after the Democratic Party scored a resounding sweep of both houses of Congress, upending the Republicans in a contest seen as a referendum on Bush's