A top US diplomat for Southeast Asia yesterday urged Pacific island nations not to withdraw diplomatic recognition of Taiwan, warning that Chinese pressure to change Taiwan’s international standing threatens to increase the possibility of conflict.
US Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs W. Patrick Murphy spoke to reporters in Canberra at the end of a three-day visit to Australia for talks with government officials on expanding their security alliance.
Six Pacific island nations have diplomatic relations with Taiwan, accounting for one-third of the nation’s diplomatic allies around the world, but they are under intensifying pressure from Beijing to switch allegiance as it builds its influence in the region.
Photo: AP
Murphy said that diplomatic decisions should not be influenced by China.
“China is attempting to reduce Taiwan’s diplomatic relations in the region and that’s kind of heavy-handed,” Murphy said. “It gives rise to tensions by changing the ‘status quo’ and then the possibility of conflict.”
Then-Solomon Islands prime minister Rick Hou had promised to review the nation’s relations with Taiwan before he lost power in last month’s elections.
Switching recognition to China, the Solomon Islands’ biggest export market, remains a live issue.
Murphy said that the US has “strong diplomatic relations” with the Solomon Islands and had congratulated newly elected Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare.
Murphy declined to say whether he discussed with Australian officials concerns of some security analysts that China wants to construct a deep-water military base somewhere in the Pacific.
Chinese militarization in the Pacific would be as destabilizing as its militarization of disputed islands in the South China Sea, he said.
“A growing military presence anywhere in the region of a country like China that doesn’t work on a rules-based approach or adhere to international standards is and should be of concern,” Murphy said. “We have a lot of national interests in the region that are built on freedoms of commerce, navigation and overflight. We have key partners and the establishment of a military presence there, the notion, the concept, is indeed quite troubling.”
Murphy today is due to fly to Australia’s nearest neighbor, Papua New Guinea, where pro-Beijing Papua New Guinean Prime Minister Peter O’Neill backs China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea.
The US and Australia have committed to redevelop a naval base on Manus Island.
Murphy said that the Lombrum Naval Base expansion was about a “partnership with Papua New Guinea and meeting its needs,” not denying China a military presence in the nation of more than 8 million people.
When Australia and Papua New Guinea announced the upgrade in October last year, China cautioned both nations to discard “Cold War” thinking, referring to an era when the world was less integrated.
“The Pacific island countries should not be the sphere of influence of any country,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Lu Kang (陸慷) said at the time.
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College
RSS