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Ultimately, China may use force to push for unification with Taiwan, a scenario we all must work to prevent.

Taiwan and China are related ethnically and close neighbors geographically. There's no reason to resent or to fight against each other.

The PRC is the big brother in this relationship, and it has the capacity to be generous to Taiwan on this issue in a manner that might do much to defuse that issue internally in Taiwan.

A war in the Taiwan Strait would destroy China's international relations overnight. It would destroy Chinese - Japanese relations, not to mention Chinese - American relations.

Our policy for the last many years has been to deter the Chinese government in Beijing from ever coming into the position where they thought they had enough leverage over the U.S. to cross the Straits of Taiwan.

And it's difficult for the average American to understand why something like that could be so important and why a little small place like Taiwan would be so important to the PRC.

I will make the greatest efforts to seek a way for Taiwan and mainland China to interact that is mutually acceptable to both sides. I will not be provocative; there will not be any surprises.

We will strive to make Taiwan a better place and enable our people to live better lives.

It's very important for Taiwan to maintain its international contact.

We will never allow anybody to separate Taiwan from China.