Taiwan’s policy of seeking good relations with Washington at almost any cost should be re-examined, former National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥) said last week, calling on Taipei to be assertive regarding the nation’s interests.
His comments on Tuesday last week came after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken last month said in Beijing: “We do not support Taiwan independence, we remain opposed to any unilateral changes to the status quo by either side.”
Taipei has repeatedly made diplomats and defense officials acquiesce to unreasonable US stances in a bid to build a rapport, resulting in the nation being perceived in Washington as an obedient child, Liao said.
Photo: Reuters
Blinken’s stated opposition to opposing unilateral change gives Washington a pretext to condemn any move toward Taiwanese independence as provocation, while turning a blind eye to the increasing military threat China presents to Taiwan, he said.
Taiwan cannot afford to dance to the US’ tune of maintaining a clearly unsustainable “status quo,” Liao said, adding that Taiwan has steadily lost diplomatic allies and relative military strength under President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration.
The situation across the Taiwan Strait has become unbalanced to Taiwan’s disadvantage, Liao said.
French President Emanuel Macron’s comments about China during his visit to Beijing in April triggered a flurry of criticism from other countries, but not Taipei, which responded with a bland statement via the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he said.
Tsai’s silence about the French leader’s remarks is not a performance Taiwan’s next president should repeat, he said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy recently slammed NATO’s reluctance to offer Ukraine a timetable for membership as “absurd” when attending the security alliance’s annual summit, Liao said.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg responded, not with accusations that Zelenskiy was ungrateful, but conciliatory gestures, while US President Joe Biden went ahead with a plan to meet the Ukrainian leader, despite privately expressing misgivings, he said.
Zelenskiy’s vocal criticism of his nation’s key allies resulted in a positive outcome that enabled Ukraine to achieve some of its objectives at the NATO summit, Liao said.
Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) blasted Japan for being “timid as a mouse” without damaging his relationship with Tokyo, Liao said, adding that criticism of a stronger ally is a normal part of diplomacy.
Beijing’s reckless behavior in the South China Sea and other regions and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was a wake-up call for the international community regarding the Taiwan crisis, which sparked a shift in favor toward Taipei, he said.
The present circumstances require the Taiwanese government to act with confidence and not an abundance of caution, Liao said.
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