Security is more than military capability.
Commercial and cultural ties are just as explicitly a part of our unofficial relationship under the Taiwan Relations Act as are military sales. With the Taiwan Relations Act as a foundation, a series of fundamental principles of U.S. policy concerning issues in the Taiwan Strait have evolved over the last 20 years, according to Burghardt. But I can hardly imagine any conference taking on a topic that will have as much impact on the future peace, prosperity, and stability of so many people as this one, on Asia-Pacific security. Even as this century has shrunk the distances between us, it has broadened our thinking about how to define the regions of the world. The title of this conference does not limit us to looking either at the century that is ending or to the one beginning.