Over the past few years, the US has “transformed and redefined” the way it thinks about Taiwan, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Chairman Ray Burghardt said in Washington on Monday.
During that time, it has started to take Taiwan seriously in and of itself, he said.
Addressing a Brookings Institution conference on relations across the Taiwan Strait, Burghardt said the relationship is now viewed as important and not “as some appendage or some small aspect of our relationship with Beijing.”
Photo: CNA
He reminded the audience that Taiwan was the US’ 10th-largest trading partner and sixth-largest source of foreign students.
“We cooperate more and more on issues that extend beyond our bilateral ties — things like counterterrorism, health and economic issues,” Burghardt said.
“For a place of 23 million people, they are really punching above their weight,” he added.
US policies on Taiwan have three main focuses: supporting Taiwan’s ability to deter aggression and coercion; promoting Taiwan’s economic openness and diversification; and helping Taiwan enjoy the dignity and respect it deserves in the international community, Burghardt said.
“These three aspects are closely related to one central policy, and that is to support the ability of the people in Taiwan to determine their own fate, free from intimidation and coercion,” he said.
Burghardt said this policy had given Taiwan the self-confidence that had made it possible for improved cross-strait relations.
“Both sides have reduced tensions and they have reduced the possibility of miscalculation,” he said.
“Stable management of cross-strait relations has been a major factor that has made possible the significant progress in US-Taiwan relations,” Burghardt said.
He said Taiwan’s status as a democracy, respecting human rights and the rule of law, was a major reason for the broad and the deep respect that it enjoys.
“Regardless of who becomes the next president, we will work together with Taiwan’s new leaders to strengthen our unofficial relations and to safeguard our interests,” Burghardt said.
“We encourage both Beijing and Taipei to continue their constructive dialogue on the basis of dignity and respect,” he said.
“We do not push them in their negotiations and we don’t discourage them from certain topics of negotiation. It is all up to them — the content, the scope and the pace of cross-strait relations,” he added.
He said that Washington had encouraged Beijing to “exercise patience, show flexibility, restraint and even creativity.”
It was important that both sides understood the importance of the many benefits that stable ties had brought to them, to the US and to the region, he said.
Burghardt faced a barrage of questions on whether Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) had given the US any private assurances about how she would handle cross-strait relations if elected.
“I was in on all of the government meetings she had, all of them, and we agreed to say afterward they were useful and constructive talks,” Burghardt said.
“People made comments when she came four years ago, and we decided we were not going to do that this time,” he said. “We decided that having the US government characterize her visit, and what she had told us, was not a good move and so I will stick to that.”
Burghardt added that Tsai was very well-prepared for the visit.
He also said that Taiwanese officials will be in Washington next week for high-level talks and that the US is also undertaking preparatory works ahead of another round of negotiations of the US-led Trade and Investment Framework Agreement, which is to be held in the second half of this year.
According to sources, the high-level talks that Burghardt mentioned refer to talks known in defense circles as the “Monterey Talks.”
Additional reporting by Nadia Tsao
Two US House of Representatives committees yesterday condemned China’s attempt to orchestrate a crash involving Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim’s (蕭美琴) car when she visited the Czech Republic last year as vice president-elect. Czech local media in March last year reported that a Chinese diplomat had run a red light while following Hsiao’s car from the airport, and Czech intelligence last week told local media that Chinese diplomats and agents had also planned to stage a demonstrative car collision. Hsiao on Saturday shared a Reuters news report on the incident through her account on social media platform X and wrote: “I
SHIFT PRIORITIES: The US should first help Taiwan respond to actions China is already taking, instead of focusing too heavily on deterring a large-scale invasion, an expert said US Air Force leaders on Thursday voiced concerns about the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) missile capabilities and its development of a “kill web,” and said that the US Department of Defense’s budget request for next year prioritizes bolstering defenses in the Indo-Pacific region due to the increasing threat posed by China. US experts said that a full-scale Chinese invasion of Taiwan is risky and unlikely, with Beijing more likely to pursue coercive tactics such as political warfare or blockades to achieve its goals. Senior air force and US Space Force leaders, including US Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink and
‘BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS’: The US military’s aim is to continue to make any potential Chinese invasion more difficult than it already is, US General Ronald Clark said The likelihood of China invading Taiwan without contest is “very, very small” because the Taiwan Strait is under constant surveillance by multiple countries, a US general has said. General Ronald Clark, commanding officer of US Army Pacific (USARPAC), the US Army’s largest service component command, made the remarks during a dialogue hosted on Friday by Washington-based think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Asked by the event host what the Chinese military has learned from its US counterpart over the years, Clark said that the first lesson is that the skill and will of US service members are “unmatched.” The second
Czech officials have confirmed that Chinese agents surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March 2024 and planned a collision with her car as part of an “unprecedented” provocation by Beijing in Europe. Czech Military Intelligence learned that their Chinese counterparts attempted to create conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, which “did not go beyond the preparation stage,” agency director Petr Bartovsky told Czech Radio in a report yesterday. In addition, a Chinese diplomat ran a red light to maintain surveillance of the Taiwanese
RSS