Sun, May 22, 2016 page3

• Inaugural address received well in US

  • By William Lowther / Staff reporter in Washington
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  President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) inaugural address was well received in Washington and praised for containing no surprises and no provocations.

  Sources at both the US Department of State and the White House said they were pleased with the careful way she had balanced the conflicting demands of Beijing and her domestic political constituency.

  “Essentially, the first test is passed — the speech met US expectations,” one unnamed US government source told the well-respected newsletter the Nelson Report.

  The State Department issued a two-paragraph statement congratulating Tsai and saying that her inauguration “marks another milestone in the development of Taiwan’s vibrant democracy.”

  “We look forward to working with the new administration as well as with all of Taiwan’s political parties and civil society groups to further strengthen the ties between the people of the US and Taiwan,” it said.

  Former US ambassador to the UN John Bolton said in an essay published by the Wall Street Journal that it was “likely” that Tsai’s first year in office would determine the success or failure of her presidency.”

  He wrote that for now ambiguity might provide Tsai with the best path to pursue economic growth, but that maintaining the “status quo” was not in her power alone.

  “The close timing of political transitions in Taiwan and the US means that her first year will be particularly risky,” Bolton wrote.

  He said that with US President Barack Obama’s tenure ending, Chinese leaders would not miss one last chance to take advantage of his “passive approach” to foreign affairs.

  “China may try to avoid actual military conflict but it has every incentive to see how far it can go,” Bolton wrote, adding that Tsai and the Democratic Progressive Party would be well advised to work closely with US allies to navigate the coming year.

  “Taiwan’s new government should also reflect on what it really wants over the long term — caution may be a virtue but it isn’t a strategy,” Bolton wrote.

  American Enterprise Institute foreign and defense policy academic Michael Mazza said that Tsai’s comments in her inaugural address on cross-strait ties were “entirely reasonable.”

  Mazza wrote in remarks published on the institute’s Web site that cross-strait ties might now take a turn for the worse although not because of anything Tsai has or has not said.

  “China, rather, has little idea how to deal with a Taiwan that it has effectively lost,” Mazza wrote.

  He said that unification might be Beijing’s dream, but it was better described as a fantasy.

  “President Tsai’s challenge now is not to avoid provoking China — that is impossible as long as she stays true to herself, her party and the people that elected her — but rather to seek stronger ties to and support from the Obama administration,” Mazza wrote.

  Former US deputy assistant secretary of state for Asia Randall Schriver said he believed China was likely to increase pressure on Taiwan and take a harder line.

  In an interview with the Web site The Cipher Brief, Schriver said China wanted to isolate Taiwan.

  “They want to try to create anxiety in the region as well as anxiety in Washington about the direction of cross-strait relations in hopes that Washington and others might assist in pressuring Tsai,” he said.

  Schriver said Tsai was capable of navigating without a lot of direction from Washington and that sometimes there was value in ambiguity.

  “If it’s not thoughtful, clarity could actually be problematic,” he said.
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