There are growing calls in Washington for the US to take a harder line with China that could benefit Taiwan.
US House Armed Services Subcommittee on Seapower Chairman Randy Forbes has published an article in the National Review titled: “It’s time to rethink how we talk about China.”
Forbes, who is also co-chairman of the Congressional China Caucus, claims that Beijing’s “extravagant” territorial claims and militarized response to its neighbors’ concerns reflect a serious challenge to freedom of the seas.
He said that for years, the US has spoken softly to avoid provoking or antagonizing Beijing.
“It seems that the same Chinese leaders who ruthlessly suppress internal dissent and engage in a systematic campaign of territorial aggrandizement are too sensitive to hear open and honest pronouncements from US officials,” Forbes said.
The mild US reaction comes at the expense of longstanding friends in the region, such as Taiwan, and US values such as human rights and religious liberty, he said.
Forbes repeats arguments he made last month in speeches and congressional comments that the US should react in part to China’s aggression by increasing ties with Taiwan.
“While the US is legally obligated to provide Taiwan the weapons needed to ensure its survival, the US government regularly forces Taipei into a series of small-scale humiliations in the hopes of buying Beijing’s goodwill,” he said.
“The list of indignities imposed upon a close partner in the name of placating China is as long as it is ridiculous,” he added.
At the same time, Politico magazine said that some US naval commanders are at odds with the administration of US President Barack Obama over whether to sail US Navy ships into a disputed area of the South China Sea.
It is a debate that pits some military leaders who want to exercise their freedom of navigation against administration officials and diplomats trying to manage a delicate phase in US-China relations, Politico said.
Writing in The National Interest magazine, American Foreign Policy Council director for Asian security Jeff Smith said: “Today, Washington is confronting the dreadful realization that with each passing year the goals of political liberalization and peaceful integration appear to grow more distant, while the prospect for conflict with China draws nearer.”
A “growing chorus” of US experts is imploring Washington to abandon its informed engagement strategy for a more muscular balancing strategy, Smith wrote.
Global bodies should stop excluding Taiwan for political reasons, President William Lai (賴清德) told Pope Francis in a letter, adding that he agrees war has no winners. The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and Taipei has watched with concern efforts by Beijing and the Holy See to improve ties. In October, the Vatican and China extended an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four years, pointing to a new level of trust between the two parties. Lai, writing to the pope in response to the pontiff’s message on Jan. 1’s
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
TAKE BREAKS: A woman developed cystitis by refusing to get up to use the bathroom while playing mahjong for fear of disturbing her winning streak, a doctor said People should stand up and move around often while traveling or playing mahjong during the Lunar New Year holiday, as prolonged sitting can lead to cystitis or hemorrhoids, doctors said. Yuan’s General Hospital urologist Lee Tsung-hsi (李宗熹) said that he treated a 63-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙) who had been sitting motionless and holding off going to the bathroom, increasing her risk of bladder infection. Chao would drink beverages and not urinate for several hours while playing mahjong with friends and family, especially when she was on a winning streak, afraid that using the bathroom would ruin her luck, he said. She had
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry
RSS