Speaking about former US official Kurt Campbell, who has been tapped by US president-elect Joe Biden to join his Cabinet, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday expressed confidence in his knowledge of cross-strait affairs.
Campbell, who is chairman of Washington-based advisory firm Asia Group, served as assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs from 2009 to 2013 under then-US president Barack Obama.
The Asia Group on Wednesday confirmed that Campbell is to join the Biden administration as the deputy assistant to the president and coordinator for Indo-Pacific affairs on the National Security Council.
Photo: AFP
Naming the veteran foreign policy expert for the newly created role of “Asia tsar” is a move designed to reflect the growing importance of US-China relations, the Financial Times reported.
Expressing her congratulations to Campbell, Representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) wrote on Twitter that he “is well known and highly respected around Asia.”
“He has strategic vision as well as practical experience. I look forward to working with him in the future,” she added.
Campbell has been friendly to Taiwan and kept abreast of the latest developments across the Taiwan Strait, as well as Taiwan-US relations, Department of North American Affairs Director-General Douglas Hsu (徐佑典) said yesterday in response to media queries.
Campbell last month gave a virtual speech at the Taiwan-US-Japan Trilateral Indo-Pacific Security Dialogue, hosted by the Prospect Foundation in Taipei. President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) also participated.
US Democrats and Republicans alike understand the challenges presented by Beijing’s military and economic aggression in the Indo-Pacific region, as well as the strategic interest of maintaining a strong relationship with Taiwan, Campbell said at the time.
Taipei and Beijing should resume some dialogue to ease cross-strait tensions, he said.
However, the initiative appeared to be in Beijing’s hands, Campbell added.
With his insightful analyses, Campbell and his new post are believed to be positive developments for the future of Taiwan-US relations and the region, Hsu said.
Regarding US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer’s comments about unresolved trade disputes, including a trade deficit, with Taiwan, Hsu said that it is never too soon to seek solutions to issues in Taiwan-US relations.
BUILDUP: US General Dan Caine said Chinese military maneuvers are not routine exercises, but instead are ‘rehearsals for a forced unification’ with Taiwan China poses an increasingly aggressive threat to the US and deterring Beijing is the Pentagon’s top regional priority amid its rapid military buildup and invasion drills near Taiwan, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday. “Our pacing threat is communist China,” Hegseth told the US House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense during an oversight hearing with US General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “Beijing is preparing for war in the Indo-Pacific as part of its broader strategy to dominate that region and then the world,” Hegseth said, adding that if it succeeds, it could derail
CHIP WAR: The new restrictions are expected to cut off China’s access to Taiwan’s technologies, materials and equipment essential to building AI semiconductors Taiwan has blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), dealing another major blow to the two companies spearheading China’s efforts to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chip technologies. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ International Trade Administration has included Huawei, SMIC and several of their subsidiaries in an update of its so-called strategic high-tech commodities entity list, the latest version on its Web site showed on Saturday. It did not publicly announce the change. Other entities on the list include organizations such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as companies in China, Iran and elsewhere. Local companies need
CROSS-STRAIT: The MAC said it barred the Chinese officials from attending an event, because they failed to provide guarantees that Taiwan would be treated with respect The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday night defended its decision to bar Chinese officials and tourism representatives from attending a tourism event in Taipei next month, citing the unsafe conditions for Taiwanese in China. The Taipei International Summer Travel Expo, organized by the Taiwan Tourism Exchange Association, is to run from July 18 to 21. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) on Friday said that representatives from China’s travel industry were excluded from the expo. The Democratic Progressive Party government is obstructing cross-strait tourism exchange in a vain attempt to ignore the mainstream support for peaceful development
ELITE UNIT: President William Lai yesterday praised the National Police Agency’s Special Operations Group after watching it go through assault training and hostage rescue drills The US Navy regularly conducts global war games to develop deterrence strategies against a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, aimed at making the nation “a very difficult target to take,” US Acting Chief of Naval Operations James Kilby said on Wednesday. Testifying before the US House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, Kilby said the navy has studied the issue extensively, including routine simulations at the Naval War College. The navy is focused on five key areas: long-range strike capabilities; countering China’s command, control, communications, computers, cyber, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting; terminal ship defense; contested logistics; and nontraditional maritime denial tactics, Kilby
RSS