A new commentary published by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said the US should declare “openly and unequivocally” that it will defend Taiwan against any Chinese coercion or aggression.
Written by Joseph Bosco, a former China desk officer at the US Department of Defense, the commentary was a response to an article by CSIS China experts Bonnie Glaser and Jacqueline Vitello published last month by the think tank.
Bosco said that Glaser and Vitello sounded the alarm and warned that Beijing could react harshly if Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson and presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) wins next year’s presidential election.
He argued that the clock started running “on this particular scenario” on Election Day 2012, since President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) by law could not run for a third term.
“With no assurance of another [Chinese Nationalist Party] KMT victory in 2016, Beijing strived to make the most of the four years it could count on a Ma administration being more receptive than what might follow,” Bosco said on the CSIS Web site.
He said that Beijing bet heavily on economic integration as the path to forging significant and irreversible political bonds, but when Ma met strong domestic resistance, China changed tactics.
“Persuasion having failed to sway the Taiwanese to see things their way, China’s Communist leaders reverted to their default position — coercion and threats,” Bosco said.
He said that unification is Beijing’s ultimate objective, so the issue is not whether Tsai as president would do something rash and provoke a crisis.
“That seems extremely unlikely given her calm, lawyerly, almost scholarly temperament — and her commitments to the United States,” he said.
Bosco said the problem for Beijing is what Tsai will not do — that is, accept unification against the clear will of the Taiwanese public.
“And that would be true of any DPP leader — as it was even true of the KMT’s Ma,” he said.
Bosco said Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and his colleagues need to accept that reality or “risk losing more than Taiwan.”
“That is where Washington comes in,” Bosco said.
According to Bosco, the US faced a similar challenge in 2012 when Beijing made unmistakably clear its preference for Ma’s reelection and Washington chose to put its thumb on the scale and throw unprecedented diplomatic support to the Ma administration.
“This time Washington seems prepared to let democracy work its will on Taiwan,” he said.
Bosco said that Glaser and Vitello recommend that if Tsai wins as expected, the US should prod both sides to find a modus vivendi that ensures cross-strait communication channels remain open and pragmatic cooperation continues.
“This is a worthy goal, though difficult considering the irreconcilability of China’s and Taiwan’s bottom lines on unification,” Bosco said.
However, he argued that it is not sufficient, and that Washington must pledge to defend Taiwan in the case of an attack.
“Washington needs to harden its position before Xi does,” Bosco said.
“Peace in the region, even a tense peace, no longer allows the lethal luxury of strategic ambiguity, which only tempts China into dangerous adventurism,” he said.
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
Taitung County is to launch charter flights to Malaysia at the end of this year, after setting up flights to Vietnam and Thailand, the Taitung County Government said yesterday. The new charter flight services, provided by low-cost carrier Batik Air Malaysia, would be part of five-day tour packages for visits to Taitung County or Malaysia. The Batik Air charter flight, with about 200 seats, would take Malaysian tourists to Taitung on Dec. 30 and then at 12:35pm return to Kuala Lumpur with Taiwanese tourists. Another charter flight would bring the Taiwanese home on Jan. 3 next year, arriving at 5:30pm, before taking the
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
An exhibition celebrating Taiwan and Japan’s comic culture opened on Saturday in Taichung, featuring a section that explores Taiwanese reproductions of Japanese comics from when martial law limited Japanese representation. “A Century of Manga Culture: An Encounter of Taiwan and Japan’s Youth” held its Taiwan opening ceremony at Taichung’s National Taiwan Museum of Comics after an initial one-month run in Japan’s Kyoto International Manga Museum between May 24 and June 24. Much like the Kyoto exhibition, the show mainly celebrates the comic connection between Taiwan and Japan through late Taiwanese comic book
RSS