Taiwan’s exclusion from international security groups has created “blind spots” for terrorists and criminals to exploit, a report from the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) says.
The report blames China for preventing Taiwan from joining or even participating in organizations that might increase the nation’s “international space.”
The report, Taiwan’s Marginalized Role in International Security, is by CSIS senior adviser for Asia Bonnie Glaser and research associate Jacqueline Vitello.
Screengrab from Twitter
It recommends that Taiwan be granted access to resources including Interpol’s criminal list, the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Incident and Trafficking Database and the International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) secure database, adding that the nation should be allowed to enter the Financial Action Task Force and to join disaster relief organizations.
“To ensure that Taiwan remains up to date on international safety standards, procedures, and best practices, the island should be allowed enhanced participation in organizations such as the International Maritime Organization, ICAO and the International Physical Protection Advisory Service,” it says.
In addition, it says Taiwan should be able to participate in international military exercises led by the US, including the Rim of the Pacific and Cyber Storm.
The US could appeal to other nations to back Taiwan’s membership in international organizations where possible and its enhanced participation in other cases, the report says, adding that Washington could raise the security risks of marginalizing Taiwan from international security collaboration with senior Chinese officials.
“Despite possessing both the means and the desire to serve as a responsible stakeholder, Taiwan can neither benefit from most international security bodies nor share its considerable reservoir of knowledge and expertise for the common good,” the report says.
The document examines eight areas that it says would benefit from Taiwan’s inclusion, including counterterrorism, law enforcement, human security and cybersecurity.
“Beijing views Taiwan as part of its sovereign territory and thus seeks to prevent Taiwan from joining or even participating in organizations that require statehood — and many that do not,” the report says.
It says that China fears that Taiwan could leverage its presence in international organizations to achieve independence.
However, marginalizing Taiwan from the international community comes at a cost for the rest of the world, the report says.
“By not including Taiwan in the international regimes and organizations that seek to deter and combat global threats such as terrorism and the spread of nuclear weapons, the world is left with gaps in the comprehensive fight for enhanced security,” it says.
“Ways must be found for the people of Taiwan to be better protected and to contribute their well-developed knowledge, skills and resources to international security endeavors,” the report says.
It concludes that Beijing’s obstruction of Taiwan’s participation harms Chinese interests.
“China faces growing threats to its security — threats that require more effective global cooperation,” it says. “Terrorism is an inherently international threat, and the exclusion of competent and willing parties like Taiwan creates dangerous gaps in the fight against it.”
‘NO EQUILIBRIUM’: Taiwan’s increased defense spending is a good step, but it needs to do more to have the ability to deter aggression from China, a senior US official said The US plans to sell as many as seven major weapons systems — including mines, cruise missiles and drones — to Taiwan, four people familiar with the discussions said. Pursuing seven sales at once is a rare departure from years of precedent in which US military sales to Taiwan were spaced out and carefully calibrated to minimize tensions with Beijing. However, US President Donald Trump’s administration has this year become more aggressive with China, and the sales would land as relations between Beijing and Washington are at their lowest point in decades over accusations of spying, lingering trade tensions, disputes about the
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS: Several of the PLA fighter jets that crossed the median line of the Strait came within 68km of Hsinchu, drawing warnings from Taiwan, the ministry said At least 18 Chinese military aircraft yesterday flew into the nation’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) on the second day of a US delegation’s visit, the Ministry of National Defense said, adding that the military responded by deploying an air defense missile system to monitor their activities. A delegation led by US Undersecretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment Keith Krach on Thursday started a three-day visit to Taiwan. The ministry from Thursday started publicizing the actions of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in Taiwan’s ADIZ on its Web site and Twitter. According to ministry reports, 18 PLA aircraft
WORKING OVERTIME? NTU professor Lee Duu-jong denied that he had held a part-time position at a Chinese university or joined China’s Thousand Talents Program A candidate for the post of National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (NTUST) president yesterday dropped out of the race following a report questioning his links to Chinese academia and government programs. Lee Duu-jong (李篤中), a professor at National Taiwan University’s (NTU) chemical engineering department, was a member of China’s Changjiang Scholars’ Program in 2006 and was on the list of its Thousand Talents Program in 2017, a report by Chinese-language Mirror Media magazine said yesterday. The article said that Lee is suspected of having held a part-time job at the Harbin Institute of Technology in China and was the recipient
A Taiwanese bird protection group yesterday said that it has been kicked out of BirdLife International — a global conservation partnership — after it refused to sign a statement saying it would never advocate independence. The Taipei-based Chinese Wild Bird Federation said that BirdLife International last week voted to remove it, ending a partnership that had been in place since 1996. Over the past 20 years, the federation has changed its English name three times to satisfy BirdLife International, and recently the international group demanded that it change its Chinese name and sign a statement that it is “formally committing to not
RSS