Taiwan is a model for Asia and more specifically for China, a former US secretary of defense said during a keynote speech in Taipei yesterday, calling on Washington to sign a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan.
In Taiwan to attend the Republic of China centenary celebrations, former US secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld was invited by the Prospect Foundation, a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-affiliated think tank, to share his views on future challenges in Asia.
The sprightly 79-year-old, who stepped down as former US president George W. Bush’s defense chief in 2006, said the US supported a peaceful resolution to differences across the Taiwan Strait and that progress in that direction in recent years was welcome.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
“A stable and secure relationship between Taiwan and the mainland [China] is good for both parties, for the region and for the US,” said the career government official, who first visited Taiwan in 1969.
Despite those developments, Rumsfeld said, progress was likely to continue only if both parties recognized that armed conflict was an unacceptable option, which meant Taiwan should maintain its defense and expand ties with regional allies.
“It also means that the US should continue its policy of support to Taiwan for the Taiwanese people to have the confidence to negotiate and improve” relations with China, he said, adding that in the international system, weakness was often perceived as an opportunity on the part of the stronger party to act rashly.
Rumsfeld said the decision by US President Barack Obama’s administration last month to upgrade Taiwan’s F-16A/B aircraft was a manifestation of US responsibility under the Taiwan Relations Act and former president Ronald Reagan’s “Six Assurances.”
He also said that in his view, efforts by Taiwan to procure more advanced F-16C/Ds were still alive and that the US should continue to encourage Taipei to identify its military requirements and make those known to Washington.
Only by ensuring that Taiwan is strong enough would it be possible for Taiwan’s 23 million people to decide their future, he said.
Pointing to the “dynamism” and “resilience” that prevails in Asia amid turbulence in the global economic system, Rumsfeld said the US, which conducts trade of about US$2 trillion in goods and services with Asia annually, should push for a region-wide FTA that includes Taiwan, Japan, Australia and India, among others.
As Washington puts its fiscal house in order, he said, the US “should not — and will not — be merely a spectator in the Pacific region. The promise and potential of Asia are such that future American administrations will unquestionably make the Pacific a strong focus of our foreign policy.”
Turning to China, Rumsfeld said that while some people tended to project the emergence of a “40-feet-tall giant” with whom a clash was inevitable at some point, conflict was not inevitable and was “very unlikely,” adding that China’s rise also faced a number of serious challenges, such as a rapidly aging society, an economy that remained in the thralls of the central government and lack of political freedom.
He also cautioned the Obama administration against starting a trade war with China.
“America needs to resist the current bipartisan proposal that would erect trade barriers and tariffs against China and risk sparking a worldwide trade war — the last thing the global economy needs ever, let alone now.”
While progress has been made in turning China into a responsible stakeholder, Beijing continued on occasion to act in a manner that was detrimental to rapprochement, Rumsfeld said, mentioning the overt collision by Chinese warplanes with a US EP-3 surveillance plane in 2001 and its continued support for Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi, North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
He also pointed to the expansion of China’s navy, its missile buildup threatening Taiwan and the use of cyberattacks against the US government.
Asked if he believed the US should worry about Taiwan becoming “over-reliant” on China or be absorbed by it, Rumsfeld said such fears would be overblown.
“People in authoritarian systems ought to fear open societies more than the other way around,” he said. “Closer ties will be a good thing for Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China — and not in the way that it [the Chinese leadership] thinks.”
LIABILITIES MULLED: New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi said Taipei would find out if the firm was legally registered, the guide was licensed and the weather was assessed The assets of Tian Da Local Nature Co are to be frozen after at least four people died after falling into the Beishi River (北勢溪) on an outing the company had organized on Saturday, the Taipei City Government said yesterday. Six people — two adults and four children — were washed away by a flash flood on the river in New Taipei City’s Hubaotan (虎豹潭) area. They were participating in a Nature Joy Camp outdoor activity with a group of 16 adults and 15 children led by a guide surnamed Su (蘇). As of 4:30pm yesterday, four of the missing had been
Taiwanese worked more hours than people in all but three other countries in the world last year, Ministry of Labor data showed. Singapore placed first in average hours worked among the 40 economies surveyed, with an average of 2,288 hours per worker last year, the data showed. The city-state was followed by Colombia with 2,172 hours — based on 2019 data — and Mexico with 2,124 hours, it showed. Taiwan came in fourth, with 2,021 hours, it showed. South Korean workers clocked the third-most hours in Asia, with 1,908 hours, followed by Japan with 1,598 hours, it showed. However, compared with 2019, the survey found
The US 7th Fleet yesterday confirmed that a US Navy ship transited the Taiwan Strait on Thursday and Friday. “The Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Dewey [DDG 105] conducted a Taiwan Strait transit in cooperation with Royal Canadian Navy [RCN] Halifax-class frigate, HMCS Winnipeg, October 14-15, 2021,” the US 7th Fleet said in a statement. “Dewey’s and Winnipeg’s transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the commitment of the United States and our allies and partners to a free and open Indo-Pacific. Cooperation like this represents the centerpiece of our approach to a secure and prosperous region,” it added. The transit marked the
‘COUNTERPRODUCTIVE’: The German, French and Singaporean missions said that Taiwan’s COVID-19 restrictions are hindering local projects and business operations Several foreign missions in Taiwan have urged the government to ease its strict COVID-19 border controls, which they say are hurting in-person exchanges and business operations. The missions made the appeal in response to media inquiries on how the border controls have affected their respective countries’ exchanges with Taiwan, amid growing concerns voiced privately by Taiwan-based foreign offices and businesses regarding the restrictions. Taiwan has maintained strict entry requirements since March last year, generally prohibiting most arrivals except for citizens and foreign residents, while it has required those who enter the country to undergo a stringent 14-day quarantine. Although the rules have been
RSS