The US has warned Taiwan’s diplomatic allies in the Pacific to be “cautious and careful” in dealing with China, US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink told US senators on Thursday, adding that Washington is working closely with them to maintain stability and prosperity in the region, despite Beijing’s influence.
The US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations held a hearing on “US Strategy in the Pacific Islands Region” on to discuss effective solutions to “push back” against Beijing’s influence, said US Senator Jim Risch, a ranking member of the committee.
China is seeking “to erode longstanding US partnerships in the region,” such as proposing untransparent infrastructure projects and pressuring Taiwan’s diplomatic allies to switch ties to Beijing, US Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Ely Ratner said.
Photo: screen grab from US Senator Jim Risch’s YouTube channel
The Pacific islands are vulnerable to influence from China, which “has moved aggressively to assert itself” in the region, Kritenbrink said.
The US Congress last week renewed the Compacts of Free Association, providing Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Palau with assistance on the economy, defense and other fields.
The assistance provided under the compacts “are key to maintaining the stability and prosperity of our closest Pacific island partners, and to safeguarding our shared long-term defense and strategic interests in the region,” he said.
Three Pacific island nations have switched recognition from Taiwan to China in the past six years: the Solomon Islands and Kiribati in 2019, and Narau earlier this year.
Beijing lured away Taiwan’s allies with economic inducements, and “misused and misinterpreted” UN General Assembly Resolution 2758, Kritenbrink said.
He called on US allies “to be careful and clear-eyed about entering these arrangements with China.”
“China will often make many promises that remain unfulfilled, and that can have negative consequences,” he said.
The US is working “very carefully and closely” with Taiwan’s three remaining allies in the Pacific — Palau, the Marshall Islands and Tuvalu — “to close off any opportunities that China could exploit,” he added.
There is precedent for nations to switch recognition back and forth between Beijing and Taipei, Kritenbrink said, adding that the US is not aiming to force nations to choose their diplomatic allies, but to ensure their “ability to make their own sovereign decisions, free from coercion.”
The US urges nations “to be cautious and careful given the track record of the PRC” while considering switching ties, he said, referring to the People’s Republic of China.
To counter China’s expansion in the Pacific, the US has to “be present [and] to be active in all of these countries,” Kritenbrink said.
Following the opening of new embassies in the Solomon Islands and in Tonga, the US is soon to open another in Vanuatu and is seeking parliamentary approval for the establishment of an embassy in Kiribati, he said.
In Taipei, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday thanked US officials for voicing concern over Chinese coercion and encouraged other nations to do the same.
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