The US should insist on a binding code of conduct prohibiting the use of force to settle Taiwan’s future, a new study released this week by the Hudson Institute said.
Washington should also insist that the same code of conduct prohibit the use of force to settle territorial disputes in the East and South China seas, the study said.
“The forceful ‘unification’ of Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China [PRC] would lower the credibility of the American alliance system in Asia,” the study written by Hudson Institute senior fellows John Lee and Charles Horner said.
“Moreover, if the People’s Liberation Army [PLA] is allowed physical access to Taiwanese ports and untrammeled access to Taiwan’s exclusive maritime economic zone, this would offer the PLA Navy the strategic breakout into the Western Pacific that it needs to significantly alter the strategic balance in the wider East and Southeast region,” it said.
Current US policy in the Taiwan Strait is deliberately ambiguous and casts doubt on Washington’s clarity about its own strategic interests in East Asia vis-a-vis an ambitious and increasingly assertive PRC, the study said.
Titled Keeping the Peace in the Pacific the study asserts that a US failure to adopt a clear and robust position on sovereignty disputes involving the PRC in the East and South China seas and the Taiwan Strait also enhances the effectiveness of Beijing’s approach of dividing opponents and probing US resoluteness.
“This means that China is allowed to dictate the pace and extent it asserts its claims in these various regions, even as it increasingly views these claims as indivisible,” the study said.
Instead, the US should counter with the proposition that one binding code of conduct against the use of force to settle these issues should be applicable to all of the contested regions, the study said.
“The high likelihood that the PRC would reject such a proposal is beside the point — the onus would be upon Beijing to justify its rejection of such a code and it would suffer region-wide diplomatic fallout as it goes about doing so,” the study said.
It said that despite China’s size, rapid economic growth and expanding military capabilities, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) cannot afford a foreign policy disaster because it would have grave economic consequences for the country and possibly trigger an existential crisis for the party.
The US, in coordination with allies like Japan, should control the pace of diplomatic, military and economic escalation in the event of a crisis — and in doing so impose “prohibitive costs” on the CCP, the study said.
The coast guard on Friday took a Chinese fishing boat and the 17 people on board into custody, after it rammed into a patrol boat while attempting to flee. A 100-tonne coast guard vessel at about 8am discovered a Chinese fishing boat illegally operating in waters about 11 nautical miles (20.4km) northwest of Hsinchu, the Hsinchu offshore flotilla of the Coast Guard Administration said. The crew refused to allow law enforcement to board the ship and attempted to flee, it added. The coast guard vessel and another ship chased the fishing boat for about a half hour, during which time the Chinese boat
Vice President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday said that Beijing was trying to “annex” Taiwan, while China said its recent series of drills near Taiwan are aimed at combating the “arrogance” of separatist forces. The Ministry of National Defense earlier this month said that it had observed dozens of Chinese fighters, drones, bombers and other aircraft, as well as warships and the Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong, operating nearby. The increased frequency of China’s military activities has raised the risk of events “getting out of hand” and sparking an accidental clash, Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) said last week. Asked about the spurt
RUNWAY UPGRADES: Airports and ports mainly scattered around southwestern Japan are being given major overhauls, primarily serving as civilian-use facilities Japan has chosen 33 airports and ports as candidates for improvement to enhance military capabilities, with a particular focus on infrastructure that could be utilized in a Taiwan emergency, according to a recent report in Japan’s Nikkei Shimbun. Citing the Japanese government’s fiscal budget proposal for next year, the newspaper said Toyko is to name some facilities as essential bases and receive funding for upgrades in line with the revamped national security strategy published last year. According to an unofficial policy document drafted last month and reviewed by the Nikkei, the Japanese government designated 14 airports and 19 ports for improvement, including
Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) on Monday said he would not attend the official Double Ten National Day celebrations for the first time this year, as its English name, “Taiwan National Day,” implies “Taiwan independence.” Writing on Facebook, Ma said he has attended every National Day celebration since entering public service 40 years ago, but “with an exceedingly heavy heart,” has decided to reject this year’s invitation. For the past three years, the government under President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has used “Taiwan National Day” for the event’s official English-language title, leaving the “Republic of China” nowhere to be found, he said. The move
RSS