The US' preoccupation with the war on Iraq, coupled with the "hyper economic interdependence" between China and the US, has left the US government with less latitude to alter China's behavior, a former top-ranking US official in charge of US-China-Taiwan relations said yesterday.
Randall Schriver, former US deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs said that China's ability to finance US debts in a significant way had limited the US' options in influencing Chinese behavior and had also impacted on decision-making in security matters.
Schriver's comments were part of a luncheon speech to Taiwanese officials and media in a forum for Taiwan-US-Japan Strategic Talks hosted by the Taiwan Thinktank in Taipei. Among those attending were Mainland Affairs Council Chairman Joseph Wu (
PHOTO: CHIEN JUNG-FONG, TAIPEI TIMES
Citing US Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick's description of Sino-US economic relations as "an economic version of mutually assured destruction," Schriver said the US was increasingly losing the leverage to move China in directions that it otherwise would not do, such as making improvements in human rights.
"The success of our economy is so closely linked to China in a very fundamental way that didn't exist a decade ago," Schriver said.
This was particularly the case as "China is financing our debt because they are allowing us to do this deficit spending, allowing us to finance the world without raising taxes."
"When people talk about trying to alter or influence China's behavior, I think certain things have been taken off the table now in a way that wasn't like this a decade ago," Schriver said.
Although recognizing changes in US-China dynamics would impact on the US' decision-making in security matters, Schriver, who is now working with Armitage Assoc-iates, said how this would work would depend on the scenario and would not alter the US' overall commitment to Taiwan.
Schriver also said that the political division between the pan-blue and pan-green camps has seriously undermined the country's ability to uphold nat-ional security, in reference to the long-stalled arms-procurement bill which has been rejected 33 times by the pan-blue dominated Procedure Committee.
"I can't think of another country that has the fundamental division that results in such disputes over what is the primary security threat to the country, and the problem associated with this is the decision to not invest fully in military capability because of a political paralysis," he said.
Schriver said he was not so worried about the expressions of robust democracy and disagreement between parties, which are present everywhere, but about the fact that the resulting paralysis could lead to a tipping point where China might develop the military capability to attack Taiwan without the US being able to defend it.
The former US official also encouraged Taiwan to move beyond its traditional approach to diplomacy by securing a number of diplomatic allies or cultivating ties with US and Japan, to focusing on promoting good global citizenship and regional citizenship as a way to challenge China's growing clout.
"I am afraid the diplomacy of Taiwan has not been sufficiently reoriented given the challenge posed by [China]. The scorecard approach to who has formal diplomatic relations with who and what kind of treatment our friends in Taiwan can get from capitals around the world is the wrong kind of approach for diplomacy in Taiwan," he said.
"There are opportunities to do more of that and again this is a reorientation to deal with what I think is inevitably a losing battle considering [China's] growing clout," he said.
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
A magnitude 4.1 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 2:23pm today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was 5.4 kilometers northeast of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 34.9 km, according to the CWA. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was the highest in Hualien County, where it measured 2 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 1 in Yilan county, Taichung, Nantou County, Changhua County and Yunlin County, the CWA said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS