The US’ presumptive Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney admires Taiwan’s democratic society and does not believe that the US should abandon Taiwan, a campaign aide to Romney said.
Earlier this month Romney posted his policies on China and East Asia on his official Web site, in which he said that “we should be coordinating with Taiwan to determine its military needs and supplying them with adequate aircraft and other military platforms.”
This has led some observers in Washington to interpret that, should Romney win the US presidential election in November, his administration might be more willing to sell F-16C/D fighter jets to Taiwan.
In a recent exclusive interview with the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper), the Romney campaign’s foreign and national security policy director Alex Wong confirmed the presidential hopeful’s inclination to sell the jets.
He added that while US President Barack Obama’s administration has held back on selling the F-16s to Taiwan, “Governor Romney strongly believes that we should sell Taiwan those air fighters to ensure Taiwan’s ability to defend its democracy.”
Saying selling the fighters to Taiwan would increase jobs in the US while maintaining the US’ security benefits in the Asia-Pacific region, Wong also said this was the primary policy difference separating Romney from Obama.
Romney wishes to maintain the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait and does not recognize the validity of recent calls to abandon Taiwan, Wong said, adding that the US would be standing side by side with its partners in the Asia-Pacific region and work with them to prevent China from engaging in military intimidation of its neighbors.
Romney’s strategy is to encourage China to integrate into the regional and global system led by the US and become a responsible partner, rather than a belligerent power, Wong said.
The development of Asia in the past three decades is incredible and the US wishes for the continuation of regional stability and prosperity, the continuation of free trade, and the development of democracy and human rights, he added.
This is why Romney feels that the US has to maintain a strong military presence in the Asia-Pacific region, so that a rising China would not seek to dominate the region, Wong said.
He added that it is not Romney’s wish to encourage an arms race between the US and China, but rather the belief that only through the strong military capability of the US and its partners in the Asia-Pacific region would regional peace and stability be maintained.
If China’s military power continues to grow while the US’ power wanes, it would cause China to use its military prowess to intimidate its neighbors or handle sovereignty issues, Wong said.
For Romney, a military resolution is only reserved as the last option, when all other channels have been exhausted, Wong said, adding that the same sentiment applies to the non-proliferation of nuclear bombs in North Korea.
Romney wishes to resolve issues through peaceful measures and in the case of North Korea, through more stringent and severe economic sanctions, Wong 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