Admiral Dennis Blair, the former commander-in-chief of US forces in the Pacific, on Tuesday called for an expansion in the level and intensity of US-Chinese military dialogue, with a greater focus on Taiwan, as a way to ease tensions in the Taiwan Strait and reduce the chance of a military confrontation between the US and China.
Blair said the level of military-to-military contact between Washington and Beijing was well below the bilateral contacts in other areas -- including trade and political issues -- impeding greater understanding between the two.
Blair made his comments at a press conference to introduce a new report by a task force of the Council on Foreign Relations, of which he is co-chairman, on US-China relations.
In addition to being the former US Pacific commander, Blair is the head of the US official delegation that observes Taiwan's annual Han Kuang military exercises -- a position he has held for the past five years.
In that, he has become one of the most respected, if not always the least controversial, advisers to the Taiwanese military and his advice is valued by the Ministry of National Defense.
Blair told reporters he would be leaving for Taiwan on Saturday to observe the latest exercises next week.
The report, representing the views of the centralist elite of the US foreign policy establishment, essentially recommended that the US retain its core policy on cross-strait issues as it strives to improve US ties with Beijing by further integrating China into the international community.
"The report is solidly behind the three communiques and the Taiwan [Relations] Act. There's no change whatsoever in that," said Carla Hills, the task force's other co-chairman and a former US trade representative.
Calling for higher-level US-China talks, Blair said that dialogue at the right levels "can dispel the misconceptions on both sides," adding that he thought "Taiwan should be part of that dialogue."
"A war between China and Taiwan that involves the United States is a lose-lose-lose," he said.
Asked about the US commitment in case of a Chinese attack on Taiwan, Blair said: "The US should have a `dual assurance, dual deterrence' policy, in which we let the Chinese know clearly that a peaceful solution to the Taiwan issue is what the United States will support [and] that it will use force if necessary to carry out its obligations."
At the same time, he would "tell the Taiwanese that moves towards independence are not supported by the United States and will not be supported necessarily by force."
The report itself frames the US obligations in somewhat different terms as those enunciated by Blair.
The US should "make it clear to Beijing that the United States is prepared to live up to its security-related obligations under the Taiwan Relations Act," a law which commits Washington to supply Taiwan with sufficient defensive weapons, while maintaining a readiness to counter any Chinese military attack on Taiwan.
But the task force also recommends that the US tell China "it does not rule out using force to thwart any Chinese attempt to compel unification through force."
This would seem to urge a return to a policy of "strategic ambiguity" toward the US commitment to defend Taiwan in existence before US President George W. Bush's April 2001 statement in a TV interview to do "whatever it took" to help Taiwan defend itself against a Chinese military action.
Among other things, the report rejected the idea, mooted several times in recent years, of a new, fourth "communique" to update the three that form part of the US' basic cross-strait polity. Such a communique is "likely to cause more problems than [it would] solve," the task force said.
It also rejected ideas that the US could play an active role as a mediator of Taiwan-China issues, but added that Washington could act as a "facilitator" if both sides so desired.
The report bemoaned the willingness of both Washington and Beijing to resort to military action in the Strait.
"Claims by both Washington and Beijing of a right to resort to force to prevent an unwanted outcome in the Taiwan Strait naturally puts limits on US-China bilateral military relations, even on issues and missions of common concern, and encourage each side to prepare for a worst-case scenario," it said.
"Conflicting military objectives of this magnitude create their own powerful dynamic of mistrust and could even lead to a conflict neither intended nor desired by either side," it said.
"Until some level of political accommodation is reached in cross-strait relations, even on an interim basis, Washington and Beijing have to continue to manage their differences on Taiwan rather than resolve them," the report concluded.
NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT: An official said that Guan Guan’s comments had gone beyond the threshold of free speech, as she advocated for the destruction of the ROC China-born media influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China content that threatens national security, the National Immigration Agency said yesterday. Guan Guan has said many controversial things in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” while expressing hope for expedited “reunification.” The agency received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification last year. After investigating, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and account for her actions. Guan Guan appeared as required,
A strong cold air mass is expected to arrive tonight, bringing a change in weather and a drop in temperature, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The coldest time would be early on Thursday morning, with temperatures in some areas dipping as low as 8°C, it said. Daytime highs yesterday were 22°C to 24°C in northern and eastern Taiwan, and about 25°C to 28°C in the central and southern regions, it said. However, nighttime lows would dip to about 15°C to 16°C in central and northern Taiwan as well as the northeast, and 17°C to 19°C elsewhere, it said. Tropical Storm Nokaen, currently
‘NATO-PLUS’: ‘Our strategic partners in the Indo-Pacific are facing increasing aggression by the Chinese Communist Party,’ US Representative Rob Wittman said The US House of Representatives on Monday released its version of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which includes US$1.15 billion to support security cooperation with Taiwan. The omnibus act, covering US$1.2 trillion of spending, allocates US$1 billion for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative, as well as US$150 million for the replacement of defense articles and reimbursement of defense services provided to Taiwan. The fund allocations were based on the US National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2026 that was passed by the US Congress last month and authorized up to US$1 billion to the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency in support of the
PAPERS, PLEASE: The gang exploited the high value of the passports, selling them at inflated prices to Chinese buyers, who would treat them as ‘invisibility cloaks’ The Yilan District Court has handed four members of a syndicate prison terms ranging from one year and two months to two years and two months for their involvement in a scheme to purchase Taiwanese passports and resell them abroad at a massive markup. A Chinese human smuggling syndicate purchased Taiwanese passports through local criminal networks, exploiting the passports’ visa-free travel privileges to turn a profit of more than 20 times the original price, the court said. Such criminal organizations enable people to impersonate Taiwanese when entering and exiting Taiwan and other countries, undermining social order and the credibility of the nation’s
RSS