US president-elect Donald Trump’s nomination of Elbridge Colby as US undersecretary of defense for policy — a pivotal role in advising and supporting the US secretary of defense on strategy, planning and international alliances — is positive news for Taiwan and signals that the US is prioritizing regional and global stability in its foreign policy, which should be welcomed across the political aisle.
Colby, who Trump nominated on Dec. 23 last year and if confirmed by the US Senate would become the No. 3 official in the Pentagon, is a leading proponent of the US implementing the “pivot to Asia” that was first announced by then-US secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton in 2011, but never realized as successive US administrations became distracted by wars in Europe and the Middle East.
The pivot “foundered on the shoals of execution,” wrote foreign policy analysts Robert Blackwill and Richard Fontaine, an intellectual ally of Colby, in their recent book Lost Decade: The US Pivot to Asia and the Rise of Chinese Power.
Colby served in the Pentagon during Trump’s first administration and led the development of the 2018 National Defense Strategy, a paradigm-shifting document that changed the focus of US grand strategy from combating terrorism to “inter-state strategic competition.”
“It is increasingly clear that China and Russia want to shape a world consistent with their authoritarian model — gaining veto authority over other nations’ economic, diplomatic and security decisions,” the document said.
Since leaving the administration, Colby has become a leading advocate of the US prioritizing the threat China poses to US interests. Colby in his public speeches, media engagements and writings has been calling for the US to focus on Asia, while asking US European allies to take up more defense responsibility in their region to free up some of the US’ resources.
“Asia’s more important than Europe, China is more formidable than Russia, and the other European states are much stronger relative to Russia than the Asian ones are relative to China. Today, it’s clear as a bell that we should be focusing on Asia,” he told New Statesman writer Sohrab Ahmari in July last year.
In Colby’s book The Strategy of Denial: American Defense in an Age of Great Power Conflict, published in 2021 and which offers a grand strategy framework for the US in the context of China’s growing power, he said the main purpose of the US’ grand strategy should be to prevent China’s dominance of Asia, which means fashioning an “anti-hegemonic coalition” of US allies to safeguard the “status quo” in the region that has been the bedrock of peace, stability and prosperity over the past few decades.
“Regional hegemony can be denied to a state such as China if enough states in or active in the key region can league together to wield more power than the aspiring hegemon [China],” he wrote.
Colby’s appointment likely means Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and other allies would be asked to spend more on their defenses, as part of an anti-hegemonic coalition, which would help the democratic alliance restore a balance of power and contain Beijing’s revisionism.
Colby has long advocated that Taiwan increase its defense spending. In an op-ed in the Taipei Times in May last year, he called on the nation to spend 5 percent of its GDP on defense, citing how Poland and Israel, which face fewer existential threats, spend more than 4 percent.
With an incoming US administration seeking to revitalize the alliance system, the executive and legislative branches should be ready to deepen communication with the US and ensure that internal divisions do not hinder the nation from reaching its defense commitments.
It is almost three years since Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a friendship with “no limits” — weeks before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Since then, they have retreated from such rhetorical enthusiasm. The “no limits” language was quickly dumped, probably at Beijing’s behest. When Putin visited China in May last year, he said that he and his counterpart were “as close as brothers.” Xi more coolly called the Russian president “a good friend and a good neighbor.” China has conspicuously not reciprocated Putin’s description of it as an ally. Yet the partnership
The ancient Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu (孫子) said “know yourself and know your enemy and you will win a hundred battles.” Applied in our times, Taiwanese should know themselves and know the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) so that Taiwan will win a hundred battles and hopefully, deter the CCP. Taiwanese receive information daily about the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) threat from the Ministry of National Defense and news sources. One area that needs better understanding is which forces would the People’s Republic of China (PRC) use to impose martial law and what would be the consequences for living under PRC
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said that he expects this year to be a year of “peace.” However, this is ironic given the actions of some KMT legislators and politicians. To push forward several amendments, they went against the principles of legislation such as substantive deliberation, and even tried to remove obstacles with violence during the third readings of the bills. Chu says that the KMT represents the public interest, accusing President William Lai (賴清德) and the Democratic Progressive Party of fighting against the opposition. After pushing through the amendments, the KMT caucus demanded that Legislative Speaker
Although former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo — known for being the most pro-Taiwan official to hold the post — is not in the second administration of US president-elect Donald Trump, he has maintained close ties with the former president and involved himself in think tank activities, giving him firsthand knowledge of the US’ national strategy. On Monday, Pompeo visited Taiwan for the fourth time, attending a Formosa Republican Association’s forum titled “Towards Permanent World Peace: The Shared Mission of the US and Taiwan.” At the event, he reaffirmed his belief in Taiwan’s democracy, liberty, human rights and independence, highlighting a
RSS