US president-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday named US Representative Mike Waltz, a vocal supporter of arms sales to Taiwan who has called China an “existential threat,” as his national security advisor, and on Thursday named US Senator Marco Rubio, founding member of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China — a global, cross-party alliance to address the challenges that China poses to the rules-based order — as his secretary of state.
Trump’s appointments, including US Representative Elise Stefanik as US ambassador to the UN, who has been a strong supporter of Taiwan in the US Congress, and Robert Lighthizer as US trade representative, who was instrumental in the US-China trade dispute during Trump’s first administration, indicate that competing with China would not just be among the Trump administration’s highest priorities, but the organizing principle of US statecraft.
It also indicates that the US would continue its robust support for Taiwan.
The appointments demonstrate that competing with China and revitalizing the US’ technology and industrial sectors would be a high priority of the Trump administration.
Rubio has been a leading figure calling for the US to merge its economic and foreign policies in light of Beijing’s mercantilism.
His vision was most recently set out in a September report released by his office titled “The World China Made: ‘Made in China 2025’ Nine Years Later.”
He said it was intended as a “wakeup call about how serious the threat we face has become. No longer can we fall back on old dogmas and stale talking points.”
Taiwan should be proactive in helping in ways it can. As Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said last week, Taiwan’s chip sector can help fulfill Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign slogan. This approach sends the right message.
Leading figures in the Republican Party, such as Waltz and Rubio, believe that the US’ strategic “pivot to Asia” first announced by then-US secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton in November 2011 has yet to be realized, as successive US administrations have neither fully prioritized Asia nor taken the threat China poses to its interests seriously.
The US’ distraction by wars in Europe and the Middle East has emboldened Beijing to ramp up its coercion of “American allies and partners, such as Taiwan and the Philippines,” Waltz and Georgetown University professor Matthew Kroenig said in a recent article for The Economist.
They advocated bringing those wars to a “swift conclusion” so the US can focus on what they say is its primary mission of restoring deterrence in Asia.
Trump’s appointments are a signal that his foreign policy team take Waltz’s and Rubio’s arguments about deterrence seriously. However, this must be matched with a similar seriousness at home about the nation’s defenses.
Reports this week that Taiwan has contacted the incoming US administration about procuring up to US$15 billion in military hardware is a positive signal of intent.
Legislators should ensure there is no repeat of fiscal budgets being held up for too long, blocking important defense spending. It was only this week that legislators agreed to review the budget after weeks of impasse. The incoming Republican administration would prioritize actions over words, and the procurement of hard power would be valued over statements.
Trump’s foreign policy would be predicated on allies stepping up and sharing more of the defense cost burden so the US can focus on its primary challenge. Doing so would be a positive development for the US and its allies, as it would put the international order on a more stable and long-term footing. In this, Taiwan has an important role to play.
The gutting of Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia (RFA) by US President Donald Trump’s administration poses a serious threat to the global voice of freedom, particularly for those living under authoritarian regimes such as China. The US — hailed as the model of liberal democracy — has the moral responsibility to uphold the values it champions. In undermining these institutions, the US risks diminishing its “soft power,” a pivotal pillar of its global influence. VOA Tibetan and RFA Tibetan played an enormous role in promoting the strong image of the US in and outside Tibet. On VOA Tibetan,
Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), the leader of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), caused a national outrage and drew diplomatic condemnation on Tuesday after he arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office dressed in a Nazi uniform. Sung performed a Nazi salute and carried a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf as he arrived to be questioned over allegations of signature forgery in the recall petition. The KMT’s response to the incident has shown a striking lack of contrition and decency. Rather than apologizing and distancing itself from Sung’s actions,
US President Trump weighed into the state of America’s semiconductor manufacturing when he declared, “They [Taiwan] stole it from us. They took it from us, and I don’t blame them. I give them credit.” At a prior White House event President Trump hosted TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家), head of the world’s largest and most advanced chip manufacturer, to announce a commitment to invest US$100 billion in America. The president then shifted his previously critical rhetoric on Taiwan and put off tariffs on its chips. Now we learn that the Trump Administration is conducting a “trade investigation” on semiconductors which
By now, most of Taiwan has heard Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an’s (蔣萬安) threats to initiate a vote of no confidence against the Cabinet. His rationale is that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)-led government’s investigation into alleged signature forgery in the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) recall campaign constitutes “political persecution.” I sincerely hope he goes through with it. The opposition currently holds a majority in the Legislative Yuan, so the initiation of a no-confidence motion and its passage should be entirely within reach. If Chiang truly believes that the government is overreaching, abusing its power and targeting political opponents — then
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