Washington should support Taipei’s international participation and include Taiwan in combat-readiness operations to thwart China’s ambitions in the Indo-Pacific region, former US deputy undersecretary of the navy Seth Cropsey said.
Taiwan’s status “was not the root of Sino-American antagonism, but it was the clearest expression of it,” Cropsey, who is also the founder and president of US think tank Yorktown Institute, wrote in an opinion piece published on Monday on the Web site of US daily The Hill.
The tension over Taiwan between the US and China is a strategic antagonism, rather than a legal one, founded on “mutually conflicting long-term political, military and economic objectives,” he said.
Photo: AFP / US Navy / Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Z.A. Landers
The disputes between the US and China are broadly “based on the Chinese Communist Party’s Asian and Eurasian ambitions,” he said, adding that Taiwan’s role in the US defense system makes it the strategic center of the rivalry.
Taiwan “remains key to China’s self-image,” which also includes a more aggressive military posture, Cropsey said.
To keep Beijing from taking military action against Taiwan “requires deterring Chinese aggression throughout the Indo-Pacific” region, as Taipei is “a mere stepping-stone” to China’s ambition of regional dominance, he said.
Beijing taking control of Taiwan would jeopardize the defenses of Japan, the Philippines and Australia, he added.
China could control the eastern part of Eurasia’s most important trade route by taking the Malacca and Lombok straits, he said.
China is aware of the situation and has “thought well past the first contingencies,” he added.
Cropsey called on the US to prioritize the military aspects of deterrence by allocating more to the defense budget so that it “can sustain the forces needed to fight a large-scale Indo-Pacific air-naval war.”
More importantly, the US should “integrate the capabilities of regional allies, allowing them to operate jointly with US forces in combat,” which “must include Taiwan as well, considering Taipei’s geographic and military relevance,” he said.
Providing Taiwan with more diplomatic outlets through participation in international organizations and connections with other countries would also help the US’ efforts and should be encouraged, he said.
Legal disputes over Taiwan’s status are symptoms of underlying antagonisms between the US and China, he said.
Renewing discussions on the issue would have no real impact on the relationship between Washington and Beijing, he said.
The US providing China with public or private assurances against a declaration of Taiwanese independence would not meaningfully decrease the odds of confrontation, he said.
Taiwan is “an independent country under any definition,” a status “in no need of modification,” and which makes it “meaningless to say so in one manner or another,” he said.
“China has already lost Taiwan, insofar as Taiwan is not ruled by the mainland,” he said, adding that Taiwan only refrains from declaring independence to avoid provoking China.
“The time for language games has passed,” he said.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
RSS