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We believe, as I have said, that while cannons have been fired -- mostly in one direction -- we have also had common fronts.
As the Premier said yesterday, they were mostly produced by the "polar bear."
We do not want to jeopardize that possibility of developing common fronts with the PRC given the dangers that may be ahead, and keeping in mind what Chairman Mao said to me last year of the two strands -- normalization, and the international environment.
Now having said this, let me go back to the specific issues between us.
First, on the issue of the diplomatic status: We are prepared to solve this on substantially the Japan model; and with the one variation that it would be easiest for us if we could maintain a liaison office in Taiwan and an embassy in Peking. Except for that we would follow the Japan model.
With respect to the presence of U.S. troops on Taiwan, we are prepared to remove all our troops from Taiwan. We would like to agree with you on a schedule, a time-frame within which this will be accomplished -- by which we would reduce the forces by half by the summer of 1976, and the remainder to be removed by the end of 1977.
Incidentally, what I am discussing is not something to which we want to agree -- we can agree to it hear, but it should not be announced until the end of 1975, the agreement we make. But we want to come to an understanding about it now, that this is what would happen.
Now that leaves the last problem, which is our defense relationship to Taiwan. And this is a problem to which, in all frankness, we have not come up with a good answer.
Our problem is this: on the face of it, it is of course absurd to say one has a defense arrangement with a part of a country one recognizes, that is, which belongs to that country.
Secondly, we obviously have no interest in maintaining a strategic base on Taiwan after we have established diplomatic relations with Peking and recognized Peking as the legal government of all China.
But as I told the Foreign Minister in New York, we need a formula that enables us to say that at least for some period of time there are
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