US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday said that the US will “fulfill [its] commitments” to Taiwan, amid rising calls for Washington to explicitly commit to defending Taiwan in the event of a Chinese attack.
Pompeo’s remarks came after the Financial Times earlier this week published a video, titled “Will China and the US go to war over Taiwan?” which mentions a “growing debate” in the US over whether it was time to end the “strategic ambiguity” on the defense of Taiwan.
Asked about the issue by conservative political commentator Hugh Hewitt on Friday, Pompeo said that the administration of US President Donald Trump has been “relentless” in delivering on its commitments to Taiwan, but stopped short of clarifying the US position.
“There’s the Taiwan Relations Act, there’s a set of understandings that have been in place for quite some time, and we have made sure to fulfill those commitments,” Pompeo said, further citing weapons sales and the US military’s maintenance of freedom of navigation around Taiwan as examples.
“We recognize that this is a point of conflict with the Chinese Communist Party. We don’t want that. We want peace. But we are going to make sure we live up to all the obligations we have to Taiwan,” he added.
Pompeo also refused to elaborate on the topic on Tuesday during an interview with Japan’s Nikkei Asian Review.
Asked if the US is prepared to respond if China attacks Taiwan, Pompeo said that the US is doing everything it can to reduce tensions in the region, but also recognizes that “appeasement is not the answer.”
The questions came as several commentators have in the past few months spoken out in favor of making a clear commitment to Taiwan’s defense, which they argue would reduce uncertainties that could potentially lead to war.
In an article in the Foreign Affairs magazine, veteran US diplomat Richard Haass last month said that the decades-old policy of strategic ambiguity has run its course and the US must explicitly state that it will respond to any use of force by China against Taiwan.
At a foreign policy forum hosted by the Hudson Institute think tank on Wednesday, US Senator Tom Cotton also called for an “explicit and unambiguous” commitment to defend Taiwan.
If the US makes a clear commitment to uphold the territorial integrity of Taiwan, China would have no choice but to show restraint, Cotton said.
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