Open communication channels between the US and China are important in maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, US Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Affairs Ely Ratner said on Thursday.
Ratner made the remark at an event held by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies to discuss the US’ role in Indo-Pacific security.
The event was held prior to US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s planned trip to Japan, Singapore, India and France next week, which includes attending the 20th Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, the US Department of Defense said in a press release on Thursday.
Photo: Reuters
Deterring China does not only involve the defense capabilities of the US and its allies, but also the types of interaction between the US and China, where communication is “an important ingredient to maintain peace,” Ratner said.
Austin has repeatedly underlined the importance of open lines of communication with Beijing to prevent misperception and miscalculation during peacetime or crisis, he said.
US officials, such as Austin, US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Mark Milley and US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral John Aquilino, have proposed telephone calls, meetings and dialogue with Beijing, but has “repeatedly have had those requests rejected or not answered,” he said.
The US and the department “have had an outstretched hand on this question of military-to-military engagement and we have yet to have had a consistently willing partner,” he said.
For example, several weeks ago, Austin and the department initiated requests to meet with Chinese Minister of National Defense Li Shangfu (李尚福) at the Shangri-La Dialogue, which “has not been answered one way or another,” he said.
China said that Li has been sanctioned under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, but the sanction has “no legal or technical bearing on” the meeting, Ratner said.
The US often experiences difficulties in leveraging the communication channels with China, which is “often shifting from one reason to another as to why at any particular moment it is inopportune or inconvenient,” he said.
Regarding US commitment to Taiwan, Ratner said that Washington has “a clear objective to maintain the ‘status quo’ in the Taiwan Strait” as it believes that to be in the best interests of the entire region.
Under the Taiwan Relations Act, the US is committed to providing Taiwan with the defensive arms it needs to defend itself and maintaining its own capacity to resist coercive efforts, he said.
“Conflict across the Strait is either inevitable or imminent,” as the US is confident that “deterrence is real, and deterrence is strong,” he said.
“Our job is to keep it that way tomorrow. Next week, next year and then of the future,” he added.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by