US academics yesterday emphasized the importance of Taiwan economically and strategically to the US in its rebalancing strategy to return to Asia and said more needed to be done to strengthen bilateral ties.
Wallace Gregson, who served as US assistant secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific security affairs from May 2009 until April last year, told a forum in Taipei that US leadership was essential in an increasingly complex world to promote global peace and prosperity.
The presence of the US in the Asia-Pacific region and the efforts it has made in the region are important, as they help shape the geopolitical climate and make the US immediately available to respond to its needs, he said.
“The US and the world need China to be a successful contributor to the international system, but at the same time, the US needs to work with our allies and friends and be there to support their interests,” Gregson said.
Answering a question from the audience, Gregson dismissed the idea of the US abandoning Taiwan to foster a better relationship with China.
“Abandon Taiwan? Absolutely not,” he said, adding that the US had vital interests in the region.
Gregson was speaking at a forum on “US Strategy in Asia and Taiwan’s Future” hosted by the US-based think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and Tamkang University’s Graduate Institute of International Affairs and Strategic Studies.
At a roundtable discussion, US economic adviser Kevin Nealer said the US would like to see Taiwan join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in its formative stage to help shape the regional economy.
“We think it’s in our interests. We think it’s in yours,” he said.
Abe Denmark, a senior project director for political and security affairs at the National Bureau of Asian Research, presented his views on the US’ new strategic guidance released by the US Department of Defense earlier this year.
Denmark said the US’ rebalancing strategy in Asia has three implications for Taiwan — although Taiwan is not specifically mentioned in the guidance.
“The US is not leaving Asia, the US is a reliable partner, and I think it’s safe to say that the US will continue to provide defense articles to Taiwan,” he said.
Asked how the US would respond if the presence of Chinese warships increased, Denmark said the problem lies more in how China would use its warships than in the number of warships.
The US will be encouraging if China chooses to use its military power in a way that is conducive to a healthy and strong international system, while the US will respond to it very negatively if China uses its military in a more aggressive way, Denmark said.
Bonnie Glaser, a senior fellow with the CSIS Freeman Chair in China Studies, said she preferred referring to the US-China relationship as the most “consequential” relationship in the world, rather than “the most important relationship” as many people do, because “if it becomes an intense global strategic competition, it will undoubtedly have a very negative impact on the rest of the world.”
“The US-China relationship is characterized by competition — some healthy, some unhealthy — certainly by mistrust, which I believe is growing, and also by interdependence, which is also growing, and in some way it is a stabilizing factor,” Glaser said.
She said that there is limited cooperation between the US and China as they have converging and overlapping interests on issues like counterpiracy, counterterrorism, counterproliferation, rebalancing the global economy and so on, despite different approaches.
However, problems remain in three main areas: Chinese unfair trade practices, its insufficient efforts to be a responsible stakeholder and its military buildup, she said.
For US-China relations to improve, the US needs to use the existing dialogue mechanism it has with China better to expand cooperation, she said.
The two countries also need to avoid to avoid zero-sum competition, and the US needs to strengthen itself economically and maintain a strong presence in the region, Glaser said.
“It’s especially important to avoid an assessment by Beijing that the US is in decline. I hear a lot of this among Chinese scholars. The debate seems to be only how quickly the US will decline, not whether it will decline,” she said.
At the same time, Glaser called for a stronger relationship between the US and Taiwan, saying that Washington and Taipei needed to do more to make sure that the US-Taiwan leg of this triangular relationship remains healthy and robust.
The US “has to be honest” that “China’s rise does complicate US decisionmaking regarding Taiwan” particularly on the issue of arms sale, she said.
However, she added that she was “certainly confident that the US arms sale to Taiwan will continue.”
“The question is what we sell, and when we sell it, not whether we will sell arms to Taiwan as we take our commitment very seriously. The US-Taiwan relationship remains critically important for US interests in this region,” she said.
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College
RSS