Hanoi's concern over China's growing strength in Southeast Asia led to a strategic shift in US-Vietnamese relations in 2003, American Institute in Taiwan Chairman Raymond Burghardt said yesterday.
One example of Beijing's growing strength was the Chinese demand that Cambodia close Taiwan's representative office in Phnom Phen, said Burghardt, who previously served as US ambassador to Vietnam.
He made the statements in a lecture on the history of US-Vietnam relations given at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) in Washington.
AEI is a conservative think tank.
Burghardt said that when George W. Bush first became US president, he treated China as a strategic competitor, but that this approach changed after the Sept. 11 attacks, when he began stressing cooperation between the two nations, an approach that became even clearer in 2003.
According to Burghardt, these developments caused complaints among China's neighbors that the US was focusing on its war on terror and ignoring Asia.
He said that a high Vietnamese official even told him that, "China is eating your lunch and you don't even notice!"
This attitude was shared by Singapore, Japan and Indonesia, Burghardt said.
This situation caused Vietnam to undertake a new strategic assessment in the hope of bringing in the US as a balancing power with the result that US-Vietnam relations took on new significance after 2003 and military exchanges became closer.
Burghardt also said that Vietnam is particularly worried about growing Chinese influence in Myanmar, Thailand and Cambodia. He said Hanoi has noticed how Beijing's growing influence in Cambodia has resulted in extremely hostile actions against Taiwan, as seen in Beijing's demand that Taiwan close its office in Cambodia although it maintains a big office in Vietnam.
Burghardt said that China has become Vietnam's greatest strategic concern and that it is beginning to display a very strong wish to discuss China with the US.
Currently, however, Vietnam is playing a smaller role in the US' hedging strategies aimed at China because it does not want to anger Beijing by becoming a link in the US' containment of China.
Four factors led to the declaration of a typhoon day and the cancelation of classes yesterday, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. Work and classes were canceled across Taiwan yesterday as Typhoon Krathon was forecast to make landfall in the southern part of the country. However, northern Taiwan had only heavy winds during the day and rain in the evening, leading some to criticize the cancelation. Speaking at a Taipei City Council meeting yesterday, Chiang said the decision was made due to the possibility of landslides and other problems in mountainous areas, the need to avoid a potentially dangerous commute for those
Typhoon Krathon, a military airshow and rehearsals for Double Ten National Day celebrations might disrupt flights at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport in the first 10 days of next month, the airport’s operator said yesterday. Taoyuan International Airport Corp said in a statement that it has established a response center after the Central Weather Administration issued a sea warning for Krathon, and urged passengers to remain alert to the possibility of disruptions caused by the storm in the coming days. Flight schedules might also change while the air force conducts rehearsals and holds a final airshow for Double Ten National Day, it added. Although
SEMICONDUCTORS: TSMC is able to produce 2-nanometer chips and mass production is expected to be launched by next year, the company said In leading-edge semiconductor manufacturing China is behind Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) by at least 10 years as the Taiwanese chipmaker’s manufacturing process has progressed to 2 nanometers, National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) Minister Wu Cheng-wen (吳誠文) said yesterday. Wu made the remarks during a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee when asked by Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) about a report published in August by the Chinese version of Nikkei Asia that said Taiwan’s lead over China in chip manufacturing was only three years. She asked Wu Cheng-wen if the report was an accurate
PRO-CHINA SLOGANS: Two DPP members criticized police officers’ lack of action at the scene, saying that law enforcement authorities should investigate the incident Chinese tourists allegedly interrupted a protest in Taipei on Tuesday held by Hong Kongers, knocked down several flags and shouted: “Taiwan and Hong Kong belong to China.” Hong Kong democracy activists were holding a demonstration as Tuesday was China’s National Day. A video posted online by civic group Hong Kong Outlanders shows a couple, who are allegedly Chinese, during the demonstration. “Today is China’s National Day, and I won’t allow the displaying of these flags,” the male yells in the video before pushing some demonstrators and knocking down a few flagpoles. Radio Free Asia reported that some of the demonstrators