The Taiwanese community and foreign policy analysts in the US were shocked on Friday when the New York Times published an op-ed article calling on US President Barack Obama to sell out Taiwan for China.
Paul Kane, a former international security fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School, said in the op-ed: “With a single bold act, President Obama could correct the country’s course, help assure his re-election, and preserve our children’s future.”
“He should enter into closed-door negotiations with Chinese leaders to write off the [US]$1.14 trillion of American debt currently held by China in exchange for a deal to end American military assistance and arms sales to Taiwan and terminate the current United States-Taiwan defense arrangement by 2015,” Kane said.
“Today, America has little strategic interest in Taiwan, which is gradually integrating with China economically by investing in and forming joint ventures with mainland Chinese firms. The island’s absorption into mainland China is inevitable,” he added.
However, if things go wrong between Taiwan and China, Kane said, the US could be suddenly drawn into a multi-trillion-dollar war.
Kane said: “The Chinese leadership would be startled — for a change — if the US were to adopt such a savvy negotiating posture. Beyond reducing our debt, a Taiwan deal could pressure Beijing to end its political and economic support for pariah states. It would be a game changer.”
He said “the deal” would eliminate almost 10 percent of US national debt, would redirect US foreign policy away from dated entanglements and would eliminate the risk of involvement in a costly war.
“Critics will call this proposal impractical, even absurd. They will say it doesn’t have a prayer of passing Congress and doesn’t acknowledge political realities … But by pursuing this agenda, Obama would change the calculus and political reality. And Congress should see a deal with China as an opportunity to make itself credible again,” Kane added. “By tackling the issue of Taiwan, Obama could address much of what ails him today, sending a message of bold foreign policy thinking and fiscal responsibility that would benefit every citizen and be understood by every voter.”
Taiwan supporters in the US said the most disturbing aspect of the situation was that the New York Times considered the argument important enough to publish.
Several also said that it was the latest of a series of articles written by academics and analysts that propose ending arms sales to Taiwan and abandoning the nation.
Dan Blumenthal, a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, told the Taipei Times: “Abandoning Taiwan for the purposes of economic recovery is a non sequitur. China will not ‘write off our debt,’ it will keep wanting to buy our debt as long as we have debt to buy because of its distorted economy.”
“Abandoning Taiwan has been tried. First in 1979, which led to Taiwan trying to build nuclear weapons. More recently, we have had at least two arms freezes this decade. The result? China has picked on pretty much everyone else in the region,” Blumenthal said.
“What the author is really calling for is our looking the other way in a forced occupation of Taiwan. A forcible occupation of Taiwan is not a recipe for global economic growth,” he said.
Meanwhile, Douglas Paal, a Taiwan expert and vice president of studies at the Carnegie Endowment, said: “My first response was that the Kane article must have been written for April Fool’s Day — so outrageous is the concept — it must have been intended as a joke.”
“Taiwan belongs to the people of Taiwan and they will decide their future, not Washington. And by the way, Beijing is in no position to spend the billions of dollars in Treasury bills to buy anything,” Paal said.
“Those T-bills are repositories for money the Chinese government has borrowed from the people and businesses of China on which the authorities must pay interest,” Paal said.
The Web site “Business Insider” said Kane had presented “the worst idea ever for dealing with our national debt.”
“This idea isn’t simply far-fetched, it’s just ludicrous. What Kane is advocating is an abdication of our strategic self-direction,” it said.
“What’s scary is not that this will ever happen — it won’t — but that the size of the debt is causing people to think loonier and loonier things,” the Web site said.
National Review Online called the op-ed “goofy.”
“Does anyone think that a sell out deal would have any result except a declaration of independence by Taiwan?” the op-ed said.
“They’d figure at that point they had nothing to lose, causing the ChiComs to react and then we might indeed get drawn into a war,” it said.
BAIL APPEALS: The former vice premier was ordered to be held incommunicado despite twice being granted bail and paying a total of NT$12 million in bond The Taoyuan District Court yesterday ordered the detention of former vice premier Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦), who is being investigated for alleged corruption while serving as Taoyuan mayor from December 2014 to December 2022, and that he be held incommunicado. The court made the ruling during a bail hearing after prosecutors appealed its bail ruling twice. Cheng on Saturday was released after posting bail of NT$5 million (US$153,818). However, after prosecutors lodged an appeal, the High Court on Monday revoked the original ruling and ordered the Taoyuan District Court to hold another bail hearing. On Tuesday, the district court granted bail to Cheng a second
The Thai government on Friday announced that Taiwanese would be allowed to stay in the country for up to 60 days per entry, under the Southeast Asian country’s visa-free program starting from today. Taiwan is among 93 countries included in the Thai visa-waiver program, which has been expanded from 57 countries, with the visa-exempt entry extended from 30 to 60 days. After taking office last year, Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin has vowed to grant more visa waivers to foreign travelers as part of efforts to stimulate tourism. The expanded visa-waiver program was on Friday signed by Thai Minister of the Interior Anutin
PEACE AND SECURITY: China’s military ambitions present ‘the greatest strategic challenge to Japan and the world, Japan’s annual defense white paper said yesterday Japan yesterday warned that China risked escalating tensions with Taiwan with an increase in military exercises that appeared aimed in part at readying Beijing’s forces for a possible invasion. Japan’s annual assessment of security threats, including those posed by China, North Korea and Russia, comes as Taiwan closely monitors Chinese People’s Liberation Army air and sea exercises, including one with the Shandong aircraft carrier in the Pacific Ocean. The drills are the latest in a series including maneuvers in the Taiwan Strait last year that a senior US general said would be key to any invasion. “Because of that increase in military activity,
HAN KUANG: The exercises, which are to run from July 22 to 26, will feature unscripted war games and a decentralized command and control structure, military officers said The armed forces would for the first time test new rules of engagement (ROE) at this month’s annual Han Kuang exercises, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said yesterday. The exercises, which are to run from July 22 to 26, will feature unscripted war games, and a decentralized command and control structure, military officers told a news conference in Taipei. ROE cards would be issued to select combat troops to test their ability to function without tight control, they said. The most recent edition of the rules was published last year, they said. One of the cards’ two templates identifies enemy targets that soldiers