The US will stand with Taiwan in fending off attacks by authoritarians and has no intention of changing the “status quo” across the Taiwan Strait, former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien said in Taipei yesterday.
O’Brien, who served under former US president Donald Trump, made the remarks at the Presidential Office in Taipei, where President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) conferred on him the Order of Brilliant Star.
Taiwan has been exemplary in its realization of freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law — values that totalitarian and authoritarian regimes are trying to undermine around the world, he said.
Photo: CNA
Taipei is rightly committing to spend more resources on national defense, including reinstating one year of mandatory military service, measures that protect the country against interference, and the development of asymmetric warfare capabilities and a porcupine strategy, he said.
Washington would not want Taiwan to come under attack from an authoritarian regime and he can vouch that the US would stand in solidarity with the nation, O’Brien said.
Defending Taiwan was the policy of the Trump administration then and it is the policy of US President Joe Biden, who has affirmed four times that US forces would defend Taiwan if China were to invade the nation, he said.
The US does not make commitments to defend a country’s security lightly, as numerous American families have members who serve in the armed forces, including his two daughters, O’Brien said.
No US president, Trump and Biden included, has had the slightest intention to change the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait, contrary to claims by those who spread misinformation, he said.
The goal of the US and its allies is to prevent the world from regressing to the past when a powerful state can invade its weaker neighbors for glory, territory or economic gain, he said.
Tsai said the partnership of democracies should rise to the challenge posed by authoritarian expansionism and defend peace through strength.
She also called on Washington to enhance its security and economic cooperation with Taiwan.
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