Current and former US military leaders are increasingly urging Washington to abandon its long-standing policy of “strategic ambiguity” to counter Beijing’s attempts to change the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait, Nikkei Asia reported on Friday.
“Strategic ambiguity has had its day and it’s time to move to strategic clarity,” retired admiral Harry Harris, former commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, told the magazine on the sidelines of the Global Energy Security Talks in Tokyo.
“The Taiwan Relations Act calls for a peaceful resolution and calls for the status quo,” Harris said. “China has changed the status quo and is acting belligerently with regard to Taiwan, so that obligates us to do certain things to help Taiwan.”
Photo: Mass Communication Specialist Third-class Ismael Martinez, US Navy via AP
The act stipulates that peace and stability in the region are in the “political, security and economic interests of the US,” and that the US president and the US Congress must take “appropriate action” should those interests be put at risk, he said.
US President Joe Biden has said four times that his administration would defend Taiwan, Harris said.
“We should take him at his word. He is our commander-in-chief,” he said.
Harris’ successors as commanders of the US Indo-Pacific Command, retired admirals Philip Davidson and John Aquilino, have both testified in Congress that strategic ambiguity had served the US well, Nikkei Asia reported.
However, Commander of the Indo-Pacific Command Admiral Samuel Paparo did not defend the policy of ambiguity or use the term to describe the US’ stance toward Taiwan during his confirmation hearing earlier this year, the magazine said.
“There is no ambiguity for the joint force,” he said. “There is just the mission clarity contained within the Taiwan Relations Act that the [US] Department [of Defense] will aid Taiwan’s ability to defend itself.”
Asked if he meant preparing US regional forces under his command for “every potential,” including combat, Paparo said: “Yes sir. Clarity and mission focus.”
Separately, he told Nikkei Asia during an interview last month that the US closely observed Beijing’s military drills conducted shortly after President William Lai’s (賴清德) inauguration.
“We watched it. We took note. We learned from it. And they helped us prepare for the future,” he said.
He said he was confident the US and its allies would defeat China in a conflict.
However, Jeremy Furchtgott, director of Washington-based consultancy Baron Public Affairs and leader of the firm’s China practice, said that embracing strategic clarity risks forcing China into a corner.
“If the goal is conflict, the US should signal clarity. If the goal is to freeze the current situation, there should be ambiguity and mixed messages,” he told Nikkei Asia.
STILL COMMITTED: The US opposes any forced change to the ‘status quo’ in the Strait, but also does not seek conflict, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said US President Donald Trump’s administration released US$5.3 billion in previously frozen foreign aid, including US$870 million in security exemptions for programs in Taiwan, a list of exemptions reviewed by Reuters showed. Trump ordered a 90-day pause on foreign aid shortly after taking office on Jan. 20, halting funding for everything from programs that fight starvation and deadly diseases to providing shelters for millions of displaced people across the globe. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has said that all foreign assistance must align with Trump’s “America First” priorities, issued waivers late last month on military aid to Israel and Egypt, the
France’s nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and accompanying warships were in the Philippines yesterday after holding combat drills with Philippine forces in the disputed South China Sea in a show of firepower that would likely antagonize China. The Charles de Gaulle on Friday docked at Subic Bay, a former US naval base northwest of Manila, for a break after more than two months of deployment in the Indo-Pacific region. The French carrier engaged with security allies for contingency readiness and to promote regional security, including with Philippine forces, navy ships and fighter jets. They held anti-submarine warfare drills and aerial combat training on Friday in
COMBAT READINESS: The military is reviewing weaponry, personnel resources, and mobilization and recovery forces to adjust defense strategies, the defense minister said The military has released a photograph of Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) appearing to sit beside a US general during the annual Han Kuang military exercises on Friday last week in a historic first. In the photo, Koo, who was presiding over the drills with high-level officers, appears to be sitting next to US Marine Corps Major General Jay Bargeron, the director of strategic planning and policy of the US Indo-Pacific Command, although only Bargeron’s name tag is visible in the seat as “J5 Maj General.” It is the first time the military has released a photo of an active
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
RSS