Academics and analysts called on the government to improve US-Taiwan military ties, after Washington on Wednesday disinvited China from joint military exercise to be held this summer in the Pacific.
The Rim of the Pacific Exercise is overseen by the US Pacific Fleet in June and July every two years. China was part of the exercises in 2014 and 2016.
The US decision to rescind the invitation is likely to have been prompted by long-term strategic considerations and not by any particular recent developments, Taiwan Thinktank researcher Tung Li-wen (董立文) said on Saturday.
Following the Taiwan Strait Crisis in 1996, the US and China instituted military exchanges to manage tensions and reduce friction, he said.
It is likely that US President Donald Trump, after reviewing the instruments of the US-China relationship, has grown dissatisfied with the military exchanges, which have failed to produce tangible gains and are arguably harmful to US national interest, he said.
The main reasons for Trump’s decision might involve Beijing’s increasing strategic hostility toward the US and the ineffectiveness of the US-China Memorandum of Understanding on the Rules of Behavior for the Safety of Air and Maritime Encounters, he said.
The US is sending a message to protest Beijing’s saber rattling, National Taiwan University associate professor of political science Chen Shih-min (陳世民) said.
Chinese air patrols in the South China Sea have heightened regional tensions and challenged the US’ policy of upholding non-militarization and freedom of navigation in the maritime zone, he said.
Asked whether Taiwan should lobby to be included in the exercises, Chen said that such actions would likely prompt strong protests from China, which the US would want to avoid.
Instead, the government should focus on improving the bilateral relationship by exchanging high-level defense officials and holding bilateral joint military exercises, he said.
China’s aggressive show of force in the East and South China seas and the Taiwan Strait has likely dissuaded the US from inviting it to participate in an exercise that is reserved for friends and allies, said Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇), who is on the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee.
Two US Air Force B-52 bombers were last month sent close to the coast Guangdong Province, showing that the US is not willing to give China free rein in threatening regional peace, Wang said.
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