China, North Korea and Iran are part of an “axis of autocrats” and the US and its allies are the “thin blue line” protecting democracy, the outgoing US ambassador to Japan said yesterday in a parting shot at Beijing.
Rahm Emanuel has been a sharp critic of China’s economic and geopolitical strategies during his three years in Japan.
“The world is shrinking, consolidating and shaping, and the United States has to respond to that,” Emanuel told reporters. “The United States is that thin blue line between autocracy, where might equals right, and rules, laws, principles and values.”
Photo: AFP
Rahm, 65, described an “axis of autocrats” — Russia along with China, Iran and North Korea, all three of whom he said had taken steps to support Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
China presents itself as a neutral party in the Ukraine war, although it remains a close political and economic ally of Russia.
“The Indo-Pacific is a home game for China and an away game for the United States. With our allies, we level the playing field,” Emanuel said.
Moves to boost US-Japan defense ties and information sharing with South Korea on recent North Korean missile launches are among examples he said showed that the “credibility of our deterrence in this region is strengthened.”
“Part of the entire strategy of China is to isolate a country in this region and use their full force and power to isolate that country and limit and restrict their both sovereignty and independence,” Emanuel said.
However, as the US and its allies display increasing “strength in numbers ... then the isolated party is China,” he added.
US president-elect Donald Trump, who is to be inaugurated on Jan. 20, has named businessman George Glass as Emanuel’s replacement.
Emanuel said he had no plans to change tack under Trump.
“I will engage, because I think whether domestically, internationally or whatever, ideas and principles are worth fighting about,” he said.
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
SHARED VALUES: The US, Taiwan and other allies hope to maintain the cross-strait ‘status quo’ to foster regional prosperity and growth, the former US vice president said Former US vice president Mike Pence yesterday vowed to continue to support US-Taiwan relations, and to defend the security and interests of both countries and the free world. At a meeting with President William Lai (賴清德) at the Presidential Office in Taipei, Pence said that the US and Taiwan enjoy strong and continued friendship based on the shared values of freedom, the rule of law and respect for human rights. Such foundations exceed limitations imposed by geography and culture, said Pence, who is visiting Taiwan for the first time. The US and Taiwan have shared interests, and Americans are increasingly concerned about China’s
RSS