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.
A preclearance service to facilitate entry for people traveling to select airports in Japan would be available from Thursday next week to Feb. 25 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said on Tuesday. The service was first made available to Taiwanese travelers throughout the winter vacation of 2024 and during the Lunar New Year holiday. In addition to flights to the Japanese cities of Hakodate, Asahikawa, Akita, Sendai, Niigata, Okayama, Takamatsu, Kumamoto and Kagoshima, the service would be available to travelers to Kobe and Oita. The service can be accessed by passengers of 15 flight routes operated by
Chinese spouse and influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China videos that threaten national security, the National Immigration Agency confirmed today. Guan Guan has said many controversial statements in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” and expressing hope for expedited reunification. The agency last year received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification. After verifying the reports, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and explain her actions. Guan
GIVE AND TAKE: Blood demand continues to rise each year, while fewer young donors are available due to the nation’s falling birthrate, a doctor said Blood donors can redeem points earned from donations to obtain limited edition Formosan black bear travel mugs, the Kaohsiung Blood Center said yesterday, as it announced a goal of stocking 20,000 units of blood prior to the Lunar New Year. The last month of the lunar year is National Blood Donation Month, when local centers seek to stockpile blood for use during the Lunar New Year holiday. The blood demand in southern Taiwan — including Tainan and Kaohsiung, as well as Chiayi, Pingtung, Penghu and Taitung counties — is about 2,000 units per day, the center said. The donation campaign aims to boost
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) said a magnitude 4.9 earthquake that struck off the coast of eastern Taiwan yesterday was an independent event and part of a stress-adjustment process. The earthquake occurred at 4:47pm, with its epicenter at sea about 45.4km south of Yilan County Hall at a depth of 5.9km, the CWA said. The quake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in several townships in Yilan and neighboring Hualien County, where it measured 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the CWA said. Lin Po-yu (林柏佑), a division chief at the CWA's Seismological Center, told a news conference
RSS