My comment:
(a) I was utterly confused by this "国务院发言人," for I can not find it anywhere in the web site of the US Department of State, particularly Daily Press Briefings of the entire week (Oct 17 Monday- Oct 21 Friday, which is yesterday).
(b) The same happened a few days ago:
曹郁芬, 馬拋公投決定說 美方事前不知. Liberty Times, Oct 20, 2011 http://www.libertytimes.com.tw/2011/new/oct/21/today-fo1-4.htm
("台灣總統馬英九拋出兩岸和平協議議題並且要先公投決定，美國國務院在聲明中表示，美國根據三公報和台灣關係法的一個中國政策沒有變，美國歡迎兩岸關係最近的改善，反對兩岸任何一方採取片面行動改變現狀，相信台海議題必須以兩岸人民都能接受的方式和平解決")
At the time, I could not--and still can not--find such a declaration.
In the home page of Department of State, the tap "MEDIA CENTER" at the top horizontal bar contains a menu: besides Daily Press Briefings, there is Press Releases and Special Briefings. With regard to Taiwan at least, US rarely uses the latter tool. The only occasion I can recall is that in the midst of acrimonious words of war between Chen (Shui-bian) and Bush administrations, Chen's Secretary General 總統府秘書長 Mark CHEN Tang-shan 陳唐山（in office: Mar 27-May 20, 2008) talked about abolition of 國家統一委員會 (abbreviation: 國統會) on or about Feb 28, 2006, Department of state did issue a clarification.
(c) Going back to (a). Unlike the Liberty Times (in (b)), the VOA report does cite 中央社, which explains a lot.
Note:
(a) 福岛英雄们 'Heroes of Fukushima'
(b) Prince of Asturias Awards http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_of_Asturias_Awards
(annual prizes awarded in Spain by the Prince of Asturias Foundation; The awards are presented in Oviedo, the capital of the Principality of Asturias, at a ceremony presided by Felipe, Prince of Asturias; section 1 Categories: the 2011 Concord award to "Fukushima 50")
(i) Prince of Asturias http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_of_Asturias
(1388- ; The current Prince of Asturias has instituted the Prince of Asturias Awards [in 1980]; modelled after that of Prince of Wales in English kingdom)
Quote: "The title was to belong to the official successor of the Castilian throne. Thus the first Prince and Princess of Asturias were the young Henry of Castile and Catherine of Lancaster [in 1388]. In the first years the title was not only honorary, as it included the ownership of the territory of Asturias; the Prince ruled the Principality in representation of the King and was able to appoint judges, mayors, etc. This was changed by the Catholic Monarchs, who limited the scope of the title making it merely honorary
(ii) Ferdinand and Isabella http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_and_Isabella
(Catholic Monarchs; Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon[, who] were second cousins, being both descended from John I of Castile; they were given a papal dispensation to deal with consanguinity by Sixtus IV; Their marriage [in 1469] united both crowns; The title of "Catholic King and Queen" was bestowed on them by the Pope Alexander VI in 1496, for defending Catholic dogmas within their realms; started Spanish Inquisition (1480-1834); expulsion of non-Christians (moors and Jews); exploration by Christopher Columbus in 1492; Isabella died in 1504; Ferdinand remarried Germaine of Foix--he died in 1516)
* dispensation (n): "an exemption from a law or from an impediment, vow, or oath" www.m-w.com
(iii) Asturia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asturias
(The Principality of Asturias is an autonomous community of the Kingdom of Spain, coextensive with the former Kingdom of Asturias in the Middle Ages; Section 1 History: In the Mesolithic period 中石器時代, a native culture developed, that of the Asturiense)
(iv) Fukushima 50 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukushima_50
(the alias given by the media to a group of employees at the crippled Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant; these 50 employees remained on-site after 750 other workers were evacuated; Japanese at the site swelled to 580 on Mar 18 and more than 1,000 on Mar 23, 2011)
Note:
(a) Dr Salvador Navarrete said Pres Hugo Chavez had a "sarcoma" which is translated as 肉瘤 in Taiwan, whereas carcinoma is 腺癌.
(b) Spanish--Basque in fact--surnames Navarrete and Navarro refer to places with the name Navarrete in Basque Country; "nafarrete" in Basque language means "plateau between two small valleys." The Spanish noun "nava" is a ‘treeless plateau.’
(c) cancer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cancer
(Cancers are classified by the type of cell that the tumor resembles and is therefore presumed to be the origin of the tumor. These types include carcinoma, sarcoma, lymphoma and leukemia, germ cell tumor and blastoma)
Quote: "Carcinoma [is a] cancer[] derived from epithelial cells. This group includes many of the most common cancers, particularly in the aged, and include nearly all those developing in the breast, prostate, lung, pancreas, and colon. Sarcoma [is a] cancer[] arising from connective tissue (i.e. bone, cartilage, fat, nerve), each of which develop from cells originating in mesenchymal cells."
* mesenchyme (n: German Mesenchym, from mes- + New Latin -enchyma; First Known Use: 1888)
* mes- (combining form; Latin, from Greek mesos):
"1: mid : in the middle <mesocarp>
2: intermediate (as in size or type) <mesomorph> <meson>"
* -enchyma (noun combining form; New Latin, from parenchyma): "cellular tissue <collenchyma>"
(8) No Missile Defense Cooperation Without Guarantees – Lavrov. RIA Novosti, Oct 21, 2011 http://en.ria.ru/world/20111021/167965072.html
("Moscow will not cooperate with NATO on a joint European missile defense network until it receives legally binding guarantees that this network will not be targeted against Russia, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday")