Jeffrey Bader, senior director for Asian Affairs with the US’ National Security Council (NSC) and US President Barack Obama’s top adviser on China, will leave his job at the end of this week.
He is the third member of the president’s vitally important China team to announce his resignation in the last two months.
The exit of Bader, US deputy secretary of state James Steinberg and US ambassador to China Jon Huntsman is almost certain to have an impact on Obama’s China policy, but is unlikely to affect Taiwan in any substantive way.
It could lead to a slightly harder line on China, with more criticism and pressure on such issues as human rights.
However, policy decisions on major Taiwan issues, such as arms sales, are not expected to change.
Bader and Steinberg were brought into the administration in the first place to strengthen ties throughout Asia, but most particularly to cultivate relations with Beijing — relations that are now cooling.
While Bader, Steinberg and Hunstman are thought to have been successful in many ways, the White House and the US Department of State are worried about China’s increasingly autocratic policies and military buildup.
As a result, more attention is being paid to developing relations with Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Vietnam and Australia and this attention could increase.
The New York Times reports that the loss of the three “most prominent players on China policy” signals an Obama administration shake-up that could reinforce efforts to “counterbalance” Beijing.
Bader, a veteran China-hand, is returning to the influential Washington-based think tank, the Brookings Institution, and will be replaced by his deputy Daniel Russel, a Japan expert.
Steinberg’s departure is thought likely to increase the power of US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian Affairs Kurt -Campbell, who also has extensive Japan experience.
Huntsman, returning to Washington to seek the Republican presidential nomination and challenge Obama in next year’s White House race, is being replaced by the lower-profile trade expert and current US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke.
A friend of Bader, who asked not to be named, told the Taipei Times that the stress and strain of the NSC had taken a toll on Bader and that Steinberg’s decision to leave had also influenced his decision.
Russel speaks Japanese and has worked at the UN and in Europe.
US foreign policy officials were reluctant to speculate on the degree of change that could result from the personnel moves.
They said that while the advice reaching the top might change in subtle ways, Obama, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and National Security Adviser Thomas Donilon would continue to make the final decisions.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and