US President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday declassified a report that casts the defense of Taiwan as critical to the Indo-Pacific strategy of checking China’s ascent, Bloomberg reported yesterday.
“US Strategic Framework for the Indo-Pacific” has governed the US’ strategic response to China since Trump approved it in February 2018, Bloomberg reported, citing a statement by US National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien.
“Beijing is increasingly pressuring Indo-Pacific nations to subordinate their freedom and sovereignty to a ‘common destiny’ envisioned by the Chinese Communist Party [CCP],” O’Brien was cited as saying.
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The report assumes that China would “take increasingly assertive steps to compel unification with Taiwan,” Bloomberg quoted the document as saying.
China’s presumptive aim is to “dissolve US alliances and partnerships in the region” before moving to “exploit vacuums and opportunities created by these diminished bonds,” the report says.
It advises the US to devise and implement a defense strategy that is capable of denying China sustained air and sea dominance inside the first island chain in a war, and defending Taiwan and other first nations on the island chain.
Part of that defense strategy would be to enable “Taiwan to develop an asymmetric defense strategy and capabilities” that would allow the nation to “engage China on its own terms,” the report says.
The report highlights China’s “predatory economic practices” that “freeze out” foreign competition, undermining US competitiveness and furthering the CCP’s ambitions to “dominate the 21st-century economy.”
Beijing is also expected to seek dominion over “cutting-edge technologies, including artificial intelligence and bio-genetics, and to harness them in the service of authoritarianism,” the report says.
The US should contend with China’s economic practices by building an international consensus that Beijing’s industrial and unfair trade politics are detrimental to the global trading system, it says.
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Zhao Lijian (趙立堅) yesterday said that the strategic framework for the Indo-Pacific contradicts the “solemn promises of the US” regarding its policy toward Taiwan.
“The US should turn away from an erroneous and dangerous path that could jeopardize peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, and harm China-US relations,” he said.
Zhao made the remarks at a routine news conference and reiterated Beijing’s “one China” principle that “Taiwan is an inseparable sovereign territory of China.”
“The content of the documents betrays the vile intentions of the US Indo-Pacific strategy to suppress China and to damage regional peace and stability,” he said, calling the document “a strategy to maintain hegemony.”
“China has the determination, confidence and ability to defeat external forces’ attempts at interference or Taiwanese independence conspiracies,” he said.
“Any ploy to check China with Taiwan is futile,” Zhao added.
The document’s allegations that China is ratcheting up the pressure on neighboring countries are “malicious distortions and lies,” he said.
Tropical Storm Gaemi strengthened into a typhoon at 2pm yesterday, and could make landfall in Yilan County tomorrow, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. The agency was scheduled to issue a sea warning at 11:30pm yesterday, and could issue a land warning later today. Gaemi was moving north-northwest at 4kph, carrying maximum sustained winds near its center of up to 118.8kph and gusts of 154.8kph. The circumference is forecast to reach eastern Taiwan tomorrow morning, with the center making landfall in Yilan County later that night before departing from the north coast, CWA weather forecaster Kuan Shin-ping (官欣平) said yesterday. Uncertainty remains and
SEA WARNING LIKELY: The storm, named Gaemi, could become a moderate typhoon on Wednesday or Thursday, with the Taipei City Government preparing for flooding A tropical depression east of the Philippines developed into a tropical storm named Gaemi at 2pm yesterday, and was moving toward eastern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Gaemi could begin to affect Taiwan proper on Tuesday, lasting until Friday, and could develop into a moderate typhoon on Wednesday or Thursday, it said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued as early as Tuesday morning, it added. Gaemi, the third tropical storm in the Pacific Ocean this typhoon season, is projected to begin moving northwest today, and be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday, the agency said. Today, there would likely
DISRUPTIONS: The high-speed rail is to operate as normal, while several airlines either canceled flights or announced early departures or late arrivals Schools and offices in 15 cities and counties are to be closed today due to Typhoon Gaemi, local governments announced last night. The 15 are: Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Tainan, Keelung, Hsinchu and Kaohsiung, as well as Yilan, Hualien, Hsinchu, Miaoli, Chiayi, Pingtung, Penghu and Lienchiang counties. People should brace for torrential rainfall brought by the storm, with its center forecast to make landfall on the east coast between tonight and tomorrow morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The agency issued a sea warning for the typhoon at 11:30pm on Monday, followed by a land warning at 11:30am yesterday. As of
CASUALTY: A 70-year-old woman was killed by a falling tree in Kaohsiung as the premier warned all government agencies to remain on high alert for the next 24 hours Schools and offices nationwide are to be closed for a second day today as Typhoon Gaemi crosses over the nation, bringing torrential rain and whipping winds. Gaemi was forecast to make landfall late last night. From Tuesday night, its outer band brought substantial rainfall and strong winds to the nation. As of 6:15pm last night, the typhoon’s center was 20km southeast of Hualien County, Central Weather Administration (CWA) data showed. It was moving at 19kph and had a radius of 250km. As of 3pm yesterday, one woman had died, while 58 people were injured, the Central Emergency Operation Center said. The 70-year-old