Retired US Marine Corps colonel Grant Newsham, a Northeast Asia expert and strategist, penned an op-ed that readers in Taiwan and Taiwanese abroad would attest was very much on the mark (“Isolation hurts Taiwan’s military,” May 16, page 8).
The US’ 40 years of close intelligence, as well as military and economic cooperation, with the People’s Republic of China unnecessarily came at the expense of its relations with Taiwan and long-term interests. The US’ Taiwan Relations Act, enacted in 1979, cannot make up for the lack of full diplomatic relations.
The US has only recently begun to wake up to the threat that China poses to its national interests — and those of the region and the world — despite warnings from Newsham and others over the years.
A proposal in Newsham’s piece that I would like to expand on is his call for a “Central Pacific Humanitarian Assistance/Disaster Relief Force.”
He explains that it would use “US and Taiwanese amphibious forces to plan, train and exercise, and — when disasters occur — respond to them.”
“Base the outfit in Taiwan and attach US officers, say from the US Navy’s 7th Fleet and the US Marine Corps’ 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, which are well-versed in disaster response,” he wrote.
Newsham — a key player in the US response to the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami in March 2011 and subsequently the first US Marine liaison officer assigned to the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force, helping to develop its amphibious capability — continues: “A particular advantage of using amphibious forces is that they combine the air, sea and ground capabilities needed for effective disaster relief. Coincidentally, these are the same skills used for regular military operations — except for the shooting.”
Newsham’s proposal fits nicely with a similar idea that I outlined several years ago, shortly after the April 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake in Western Japan. Specifically, it was a call for Taiwan, Japan, the US and the Philippines — four democracies with shared values and interests — to cooperate in constructing a network of disaster response hubs along the first island chain, which regularly sees a high proportion of natural disasters, including earthquakes, typhoons and floods.
The hubs, which would be constructed at ports or airports, would have prepositioned equipment and supplies — including food, water, blankets, tents and medicine — emergency operations centers; meeting, classroom and training spaces; and a permanent, around-the-clock staff of multinational, bilingual civilians and military personnel on call and well-versed in disaster response.
These personnel exchanges are critical to develop trust and working relationships between the civilian and military communities, the organizations they represent and the nations they hail from.
Internships could also be developed for students from partner nations, not only helping to develop their expertise and networks as future specialists in disaster mitigation, reduction, preparedness and response, but also building bridges between the young people of participating nations.
These personnel and student efforts would help end Taiwan’s isolation.
Located every few hundred kilometers, the hubs would serve as overlapping, mutually supportive centers in case one got damaged in a natural disaster.
The hubs would start at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni (Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan) and continue along the Maritime Self-Defense Force’s Kanoya Air Base (Kagoshima Prefecture), followed by Amami Airport (also in Kagoshima), Marine Corps Air Station Futenma (Okinawa Prefecture), Shimoji Shima Airport (also in Okinawa), a location in northern Taiwan, a location in southern Taiwan, Clark International Airport in the Philippines — which already has the state-of-the-art Emergency Operations Center of the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation — and a second location in the southern Philippines (perhaps in Mindanao or a reconstructed Malawi City).
The hub concept could even extend down to Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia, which also experience disasters and are vulnerable to the effects of regional disasters.
The scale of disasters over the past few decades has become so large and destructive that one nation cannot deal with a tragedy by itself. Collaboration across sectors and nations has become increasingly crucial.
The earlier these hubs are established — the space for them already exists — the earlier the habits of cooperation can begin.
The hub concept would help Taiwan’s international and regional standing as it engages at the forefront of humanitarian assistance and disaster relief efforts.
As Newsham points out in his op-ed, the US government has yet to produce real results when it comes to Taiwan. This would be one way for the US, along with Japan and the Philippines, to get Taiwan across the starting line and help the US maintain its influence in the region.
Robert Eldridge, a former associate professor at Osaka University’s School of International Public Policy, is the North Asia director of the Global Risk Mitigation Foundation and an adviser to the Asia-Pacific Alliance for Disaster Management.
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