DES MOINES, the United States, June 12 (Xinhua) -- The possibility of a military confrontation between Beijing and Washington would "increase markedly" if the United States does not adhere to its one-China policy, a former senior diplomat told a U.S.-China think tank symposium here on Monday.
"Are there war-fighting issues between China and the U.S. that could justify the enormous risks and costs of direct conflict between the two major nuclear powers? the answer is 'yes' in the case of Taiwan," said J. Stapleton Roy, who spent much of his diplomatic career in East Asia and served as assistant secretary of state from 1999 to 2000.
"But that issue has been relatively stable for several decades. This is unlikely to change as long as the U.S. continues to adhere to its traditional one-China policy," said Roy, who was born in China and participated in the negotiations that led to the establishment of U.S.-PRC diplomatic relations in 1978.
The United States should also continue to adhere to the mutually acceptable framework the two countries have established for dealing with this problem in the form of the three communiques that define the principles of U.S.-China relationship, Roy said.
It is important for the Trump Administration to "learn about China, and to learn all the major issues," as such issues could not be solved by either side alone, Roy added, responding to questions by Xinhua.
"If we don't cooperate together, it will be difficult for us to manage them, and if we do corporate together, even if we cannot solve the problem, we can manage them more successfully," he said.
Talking about Des Moines' symposium that attracted over 20 leading U.S. and Chinese scholars on international relations, the career ambassador said: "I think it's very important for think tanks to not simply sit in capital cities, or in our major university towns and think in that an ivory tower about the relationship, they need to also get out and visit two great countries."
Roy participated in the event as the founding director emeritus of the Kissinger Institute on China and the United States at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
"Also I have always argued that American tourists should not just going to Beijing, Shanghai... and Nanjing which is my birth place. The more places you go in China, the better you understand the country. The same is true with (the) U.S.," Roy said.
