Cheney: 'One-China' must come peacefully

Cheney refused to leak any information about the president's expected speech next week on the U.S. missile defense system

By Linda Petty
CNN.com Writer

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Vice President Dick Cheney repeated President Bush's recent stern warning to China, said he is hoping against a recession and predicted a "tough summer" ahead for energy-strapped California during an interview Friday on CNN's Larry King Live.

Cheney said a buildup in missiles deployed along China's coast prompted President Bush to warn Beijing that the United States would do whatever it took to protect Taiwan.

"Peace and the stability in the western Pacific and that part of Asia depends very much upon a continued U.S. presence and upon everybody in the area being comfortable that none of the nations out there has hostile intent toward any others," Cheney said.

IN-DEPTH U.S. and China: Eagle meets dragon    MESSAGE BOARDS Discuss China-U.S. relations     ALSO Transcript: Vice President Cheney on 'Larry King Live' Bush to outline missile defense plan in speech

But the vice president strongly emphasized that the United States was committed to a "one-China" policy -- as long as mainland China and Taiwan were united peacefully.

Cheney said the Bush administration was actively involved in the Mideast peace process, talking and visiting with leaders in the region. But he said that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat had not been invited to the White House yet because "that hasn't been something that we felt would definitely move the process forward."

Cheney refused to leak any information about the president's expected speech next week on the U.S. missile defense system. But he said the main threat to the United States and its allies no longer comes from a superpower such as the former Soviet Union. He said the threat now comes from countries such as Iraq, Iran and Libya that he says are trying to obtain ballistic missiles and arm them with weapons of mass destruction.

The vice president noted he worked as secretary of defense with former Sen. Bob Kerrey when he was asked about Kerrey's recent revelations that he killed civilians during the was in Vietnam.

"It's a reminder for everybody that war is a terrible thing, that very bad things do happen once you unleash the dogs of war," Cheney said. That is why a defense secretary carefully considers any situation before he recommends that a president commit troops, he said.

Cheney also said no one who has not been to war should rush to judge Kerrey. Cheney avoided military service with a student and expectant father deferments.

The vice president had his own warning to Californians facing a long, hot summer.

"There's almost nothing you can do to produce a lot more kilowatts short-term for California," he said. "They're going to have to go through a tough summer."

Cheney is head of a cabinet committee on energy and said his report will go to the president within a month. He also said the country needs to build at least 1,300 new power plants in the next decade and that nuclear power is one way to produce electricity without producing greenhouse gas emissions.

He also blamed high gas prices partly on the fact that the country hasn't built a new refinery in 25 years and because the American "people like to drive, we drive a lot."

He said the United States must import at least half our oil and in two decades that will probably increase to two-thirds of the needed oil.

The vice president said the Bush administration has been unfairly criticized on environmental issues such as the proposed development of Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Cheney said ANWR is 19 million acres -- about the size of South Carolina -- and the administration wants to explore only 2,000 acres -- about the size of Dulles Airport -- for gas and oil.

He also said he can only hope the country is not headed for recession and that a tax cut is important for long-term prosperity.

But all in all, Cheney said he was having a great time as the No. 2 man in the administration and his health is good after two scares about his heart.

The only thing that surprises him, he said, is when Senate Republicans give him a standing ovation when they have lunch together. Cheney is a former member of the House of Representatives and he revealed that "senators aren't all that polite to House members." But he said the applause is due to the fact that as vice president, he gives Republicans the edge in the evenly divided Senate, giving them chairmanships of all committees.

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