US President Barack Obama was sworn into office on Sunday for a second four-year term that is not expected to contain any major changes in tone or policy toward Asia.
With US first lady Michelle Obama and daughters Sasha and Malia as witnesses, the president took the oath in the Blue Room of the White House using a family bible. It was a small and quiet ceremony — conducted by US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts — without speeches or hoopla.
A huge public inauguration, with nearly 1 million spectators and costing US$170 million, was to take place yesterday on the steps of the US Capitol.
Obama was set to use the globally televised event to deliver a short inaugural address laying out goals for his second term.
Specific policies — including stricter gun control, new immigration laws and a plan to deal with the looming deficit — will be detailed in Obama’s State of the Union speech before both houses of the US Congress on Feb. 12.
It is at that time he will mention policies affecting China and Taiwan, but they are unlikely to differ in any significant way from the past four years.
White House insiders say that the US administration will remain supportive of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) efforts to ease tensions with China and improve cross-strait relations.
“We will continue to work to strengthen US-Taiwan relations,” one of Obama’s foreign policy advisers said.
There will be new efforts to build a more cooperative relationship with China, but objectives — military, economic, diplomatic and security — will remain the same.
Top members of Obama’s team — US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell — will leave the administration in the next few weeks.
However, while their replacements may bring changes in style and emphasis, they are unlikely to alter policies.
US Senator John Kerry, who has been nominated to take over as US secretary of state, is noted for his care and caution rather than bold new ideas and tactics.
Likewise, former US senator Chuck Hagel — nominated to be the next US secretary of defense — is more likely to be “steady” than imaginative.
While his nomination still faces some opposition, confirmation is near-certain.
US Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Affairs Mark Lippert — a member of Obama’s inner circle — is staying on.
Campbell’s replacement is not yet known, but former US deputy assistant secretary of defense for Asia Michael Schiffer and former top Senate staffer Frank Jannuzi are both frequently mentioned for the job.
Regardless, the center of foreign policy power will remain in the White House with Obama and US Vice President Joe Biden making the big decisions themselves.
National Security Council (NSC) Adviser Tom Donilon is staying on for the second term and will continue to be a major influence as will be NSC Senior Director for Asia Danny Russel.
“Nothing about Obama’s choices to head his second-term foreign policy team suggests that major strategic changes are afoot,” former diplomat Joe Barnes said.
Barnes, now with the Baker Institute, believes that China will continue to present a “quandary” for US policymakers.
Writing in the Baker Institute Blog, he says China is both a trading partner and potential future rival.
“We may expect the Obama administration to continue what might be called a ‘hedging strategy’ that both emphasizes increased cooperation with Beijing and the cultivation of countries like India which might in the future serve as an important partner in constraining China’s ambitions,” he says.
Under the US Constitution, the president must take the oath of office on Jan. 20 — but when it falls on a Sunday, a small private ceremony is held in the White House and the big public event is held the next day.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique