A list of US Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton’s top advisers on Asia — containing the names of several experts on Taiwan-US relations — has been leaked to the media.
Such lists are normally confidential at this point in an election campaign.
The list of about 50 names was published this week by the well-respected newsletter The Nelson Report.
It revealed that Center for a New American Security senior fellow Mira Rapp-Hooper has been appointed coordinator of the “Hillary for America Asia Policy Working Group.”
The group is chaired by former US assistant secretary of state for East Asia Kurt Campbell and Harvard academic and political scientist Joseph Nye.
Among the members of the group with direct Taiwan experience — as listed by the Nelson Report — are Center for Strategic and International Studies senior adviser for Asia Bonnie Glaser, and two former directors for Asian affairs at the National Security Council — Evan Medeiros and Jeffrey Bader.
The group is continuing to grow and more experts are expected to join it over the next few months.
Former US secretary of state Clinton is heavily favored to win the Democratic presidential nomination.
There is speculation that Campbell will be given a senior foreign policy job if Clinton wins the general election in November.
In congressional testimony, Campbell has said that it was critical to build comprehensive, durable and unofficial relations with Taiwan and that the bedrock of that friendship was the security relationship.
He has called the Taiwan Relations Act one of the most important acts of “legislative leadership” and foreign policy in US history.
Nye has urged Taiwan to follow smart strategies that combine both hard and soft power.
He has said Taiwan must have sufficient military strength, but that ultimate protection lies in relations with the US, which depend on Taiwan’s soft power.
Nye said the US will never sell out Taiwan for something it wants from China as long as Taiwan stands for democracy and human rights.
Rapp-Hooper has praised Taiwan, saying: “The surprisingly successful history of the US-Taiwan policy is a diplomatic story as much as anything else, and a testament to how deliberate, cautious ambiguity can bring balance to seemingly irreconcilable political forces.”
There have been reports that Medeiros was behind the White House decision several years ago to deny sales of US F-16 warplanes to Taiwan.
Now serving as head of Euroasia Group’s research on Asia, Medeiros is said to have been a key architect of US President Barack Obama’s Asian “rebalance” strategy.
Bader has said that the US would “not even consider” abandoning Taiwan and that Taiwan’s security influenced the stability of the region and served as a balancing power vis-a-vis Japan and China.
Glaser was in Taipei earlier this month for high-level talks.
“Regardless of which political party is in power in Taiwan, the US has a deep and abiding interest in the preservation of Taiwan’s security and democracy,” she recently testified before the US Congress.
“The US can and should do more to advocate for Taiwan’s increased participation in international organizations, especially those that would enhance the safety and welfare of Taiwan’s citizens as well as regional and global security,” Glaser said.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
MULTIPRONGED APPROACH: China has sought to pressure Palau across a number of fronts, but the island nation has staunchly resisted overtures to ditch Taiwan Palau has been firm in backing Taiwan despite Chinese pressure that uses tourism economics, cyberattacks and criminal infiltration as tools to threaten the Pacific ally into renouncing its recognition of Taiwan as a sovereign state. The Presidential Office yesterday announced that Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) would visit Palau from Saturday to Wednesday next week at the invitation of Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr. Whipps in April said in an interview that China had outspokenly asked Palau to “denounce Taiwan.” “And we have said: ‘We have no enemies, but nobody tells us who our friends are,’” he said. Whipps has told reporters multiple times
RSS