Senior U.S. and Japanese officials are due to begin meeting here in Washington shortly (at 1630 UTC) for an annual review of a mutual security treaty, amid speculation that the two nations will issue an unusual joint declaration on security issues involving Taiwan.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will meet with their Japanese counterparts, Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura and Defense Minister Yoshinori Ono.
The VOA State Department correspondent says the United States and Japan share concerns about Taiwan's security, but the Bush administration has no plans to expand the scope of the U.S.-Japanese mutual security treaty.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, Ms. Rice said the United States is not changing its "one-China" policy, and continues to support a peaceful resolution of the issues that divide Taiwan and China. Neither party, she said, should try to "change the status quo unilaterally."
Today's U.S.-Japanese meeting also is expected to focus on the North Korea nuclear issue.