The US will keep its commitment to Taiwan regardless of who wins the US presidential election in November, former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo said at a talk in Washington titled “Taiwan’s Democracy in the International Community.”
Pompeo told the event — which was hosted by the Washington-based Hudson Institute and the Taiwan UN Alliance — he regreted that the US “did not do more for the people of Hong Kong” in 2020, when authorities there cracked down on democracy protests.
His Taiwan policy as secretary of state was based on the premise of acknowledging that Taiwan has never been a part of the People’s Republic of China, he said.
Photo: CNA
One of the key ways in which he aimed to implement that policy was to push for Taiwan to be decoupled from the core framework of US-China relations, he said.
Whenever he met with Chinese officials, they would always make Taiwan the main topic of discussion, he said, adding that he sent former secretary of state Keith Krach to Taiwan in response.
The US government at the time also ignored protests from Beijing when it sent then-US secretary of health Alex Azar to Taiwan in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Pompeo said.
No region, people or nation under the rule of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) can retain their rights and freedoms, he said.
When Hong Kong fell, the US Department of State declared that Hong Kong no longer had the high degree of autonomy it had been promised in 1984, he added.
Pompeo said he encourages US officials to visit Taiwan more often, even though doing so would incite threats from the CCP.
“I hope more, other senior American officials will join me in this, because I think it will create noise,” he said. “There will be angst, the Chinese Communist Party will bluster and threaten, but that clarity will provide the call for the world to accept the fundamental truth, that fundamental reality.”
That “reality” is that Taiwan is a sovereign and independent country, he said.
Pompeo said his own experience visiting Taiwan proved that it is an independent country.
“I’m banned from traveling to ... China and I landed in Taipei, proving that my passport cleared and that, in fact, this was an independent nation with all the indices, indicia of statehood,” he said.
Taiwan United Nations Alliance president Michael Tsai (蔡明憲) told reporters after the talk at the Hudson Institute that the alliance has been working to expand its contacts within the US Congress ahead of the UN General Debate, which is scheduled to start on Tuesday.
The alliance advocates Taiwan’s inclusion in UN organizations.
“We will be holding a public hearing on UN Resolution 2758 at the US Capitol, and will also discuss Taiwan-US cooperation in diplomacy and defense with the US Naval Academy,” Tsai said.
While leading a delegation of alliance members to the US, Tsai said he observed that lawmakers from both major US parties have reservations about China.
Whether former US president Donald Trump or US Vice President Kamala Harris wins the Nov. 5 election, US policy toward Taiwan is unlikely to change, as stability and peace across the Taiwan Strait would be in line with the national interests of the US, he said.
Tsai said he urged US lawmakers to support Taiwan’s bid to join the UN, the Washington Times reported.
“We’d like to join the UN to share the responsibility we can,” the report quoted Tsai as saying.
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