A leading Asia scholar with the Cato Institute, a Washington think tank, who will soon join the Bush administration, has advocated that the US government strengthen its relations with Taiwan and put the nation "in the forefront of US policy" in Asia.
Mark A. Groombridge, a research fellow with Cato's Center for Trade Policy Studies, made his comment in a presentation before the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. He stressed that the views he was expressing were his own.
"We should send a much clearer message to Taiwan that their regime, their type of regime, a democratically elected one, is one that the United States government should encourage and actively support," he said
As the Bush administration refocuses its foreign policy on East Asia, it should be "broadening and strengthening our connections with Taiwan, Japan and South Korea," he said.
"These are our allies, these are the models for China. These are the countries that we should want China to be emulating," he said.
Groombridge will leave Cato next month to join the staff of John Bolton, the Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, a strong supporter of Taiwan. He will become Bolton's top Asia advisor.
Groombridge said the US should "clarify" the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act to enhance the US' commitment to Taiwan. The act, enacted after Washington switched diplomatic recognition from the KMT government to Beijing, set Washington's basic policy toward Taiwan, including a commitment to supply defensive arms.
The US should suply Taiwan with "appropriate" arms, Groombridge said.
Conceding that he is not a military expert, he said "whatever [Taiwan] needs, I think the United States should have the right to sell those arms to Taiwan, and we probably should."
He also said that the US and Taiwan should have exchanges of officials at a higher level than currently allowed under US law.
Groombridge expressed concern over possible Chinese military action against Taiwan, especially in a time of turmoil in China in which hardline elements of the PLA might take over the government or wield increased power.
"My point is that any government in China which poses a threat to Taiwan fundamentally poses a threat to US interests and to the interests of the region as a whole," he said.
Gordon Chang (
He noted that earlier this year a top PLA leader predicted a war with Taiwan within the next five years.
"Nobody thinks they're really serious when they say that. But the problem is that when you have a situation where the top leaders are split, things that are said in haste ... can come back and force people into positions that they would otherwise not want to take," Chang said.
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