Officially recognizing the Republic of China’s (ROC) sovereignty is “easy” and “the right thing to do,” former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo said yesterday in an interview with the Taipei Times in Taipei.
“It’s easy to do. It’s the right thing to do. It’s the morally proper thing to do. It’s not hard,” said Pompeo, who served from April 2018 to January last year under the administration of former US president Donald Trump.
“I think the moment calls for clarity, transparency and a deep recognition of the central idea that we’ve all known: that Taiwan is not a part of China,” he added, joking that the nation’s issuance of a visa for him to visit illustrates “its enormous independence from mainland China.”
Photo: Ann Wang, Reuters
In a speech earlier in the day, Pompeo made the same assertion that the US should offer Taiwan diplomatic recognition as a “free and sovereign country,” urging the US to move away from its long-time policy of “strategic ambiguity.”
“Today I come here as a private citizen, but it is an imperative to change 50 years of ambiguity. It is about America’s diplomatic recognition of the Republic of China, while the US should continue to engage the People’s Republic of China as a sovereign government,” Pompeo said at an event organized by the government-affiliated Prospect Foundation think tank.
“America’s diplomatic recognition of 23 million freedom-loving Taiwanese people, its legal, democratically elected government can no longer be ignored, avoided or treated as secondary,” he said.
Photo: Sam Yeh, AFP
“It is my view that the US government should immediately take necessary and long-overdue steps to do the right and obvious thing, that is, to offer the Republic of China America’s diplomatic recognition as a free and sovereign country,” he said.
“This is not about Taiwan’s future independence. It is about a recognition of an unmistakable, already existent reality,” he said. “There is no need for Taiwan to declare independence because it is already an independent nation. Its name is the Republic of China. The people and government of the United States should simply accept this fundamentally decent, morally right thing. Taiwanese people deserve the world’s respect for continuing down this free, democratic and sovereign path.”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday declined to comment on Pompeo’s remarks, saying only that it respected his comments.
Photo: Sam Yeh, AFP
Taiwan-US relations have grown steadily over the past few years with bipartisan support in Washington, providing a solid foundation for Taipei to expand cooperation and partnerships between the countries across various domains, it said in a statement.
At a news conference hosted by Prospect Foundation executive director Lai I-chung (賴怡忠), Pompeo was asked to assess the likelihood of China invading Taiwan.
The level of risk across the Taiwan Strait cannot be assessed separately from Washington’s willingness to provide arms and training, or Taipei’s willingness to pay for them, Pompeo said.
“It turns on the willingness of the Western world to demonstrate that the cost for [Chinese President] Xi Jinping (習近平) engaging in that kind of activity are just too high,” he said.
Regarding whether he would run for US president in 2024, Pompeo said that he did “not know what will happen in 2023 or 2024,” but would continue on the “mission to protect democracy and freedom” in the US and around the world.
“We need to defend human dignity and sovereignty, and we need to draw this line between tyranny and democracy so cleanly and so crisply that we can preserve it for the next generation,” he said.
Asked about the purpose of his Taiwan visit, Pompeo said that he wanted to thank Taiwanese for being a good friend and partner of the US during his tenure as the US secretary of state, director of the CIA and senator.
“I wanted to come here because the people of Taiwan are so deeply wonderful and loving of the central ideas that we have in the American founding as well, this idea that liberty matters ... that freedom of speech matters,” he said.
Pompeo, who is visiting Taiwan for the first time, is due to leave today.
The visit follows a 30-hour stopover by a delegation of former US security officials sent by US President Joe Biden to assure Taiwan of the US’ commitment in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday said that the Chinese Communist Party was planning and implementing “major” reforms, ahead of a political conclave that is expected to put economic recovery high on the agenda. Chinese policymakers have struggled to reignite growth since late 2022, when restrictions put in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic were lifted. The world’s second-largest economy is beset by a debt crisis in the property sector, persistently low consumption and high unemployment among young people. Policymakers “are planning and implementing major measures to further deepen reform in a comprehensive manner,” Xi said in a speech at the Great Hall
CIVIL DEFENSE: More reservists in alternative service would help establish a sound civil defense system for use in wartime and during natural disasters, Kuma Academy’s CEO said While a total of 120,000 reservists are expected to be called up for alternative reserve drills this year, compared with the 6,505 drilled last year, the number has been revised to 58,000 due to a postponed training date, Deputy Minster of the Interior Ma Shih-yuan (馬士元) said. In principle, the ministry still aims to call up 120,000 reservists for alternative reserve drills next year, he said, but the actual number would not be decided later until after this year’s evaluation. The increase follows a Legislative Yuan request that the Ministry of the Interior address low recruitment rates, which it made while reviewing
DETERRENCE: Along with US$500 million in military aid and up to US$2 billion in loans and loan guarantees, the bill would allocate US$400 million to countering PRC influence The US House of Representatives on Friday approved an appropriations bill for fiscal year 2025 that includes US$500 million in military aid for Taiwan. The legislation, which authorizes funding for the US Department of State, US foreign operations and related programs for next year, passed 212-200 in the Republican-led House. The bill stipulates that the US would provide no less than US$500 million in foreign military financing for Taiwan to enhance deterrence across the Taiwan Strait, and offer Taipei up to US$2 billion in loans and loan guarantees for the same purpose. The funding would be made available under the US’ Foreign Military
WARNING: China has stepped up harassment of foreign vessels after its new regulation took effect last month, an official said, citing an incident in the Diaoyutai Islands The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday linked China’s seizure of a Taiwanese fishing vessel illegally operating in its territorial waters to Beijing’s new regulation authorizing the China Coast Guard to seize boats in waters it claims. Chinese officials boarded and then seized a Taiwanese fishing vessel operating near China’s coast close to Kinmen County late on Tuesday and took it to a Chinese port, the CGA said. The Penghu-registered squid fishing vessel Da Jin Man No. 88 (大進滿88) was boarded and seized by China Coast Guard east-northeast of Liaoluo Bay (料羅灣), 17.5 nautical miles (32.4km) from Taiwan’s restricted waters off Kinmen,