The US Congress would continue to act “tough” on China regardless of whether US Vice President Kamala Harris or former US president Donald Trump wins the US presidential election on Nov. 5, a former top US diplomat to Taiwan said yesterday.
“No matter who wins the presidential elections this fall, the Congress will insist on broad continuity in our Asian policy, that will include continuing arms sales to Taiwan and projecting a tough stance toward any efforts by Beijing to threaten or attack this island,” former American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) director Stephen M. Young said at a forum in Taipei.
“If Kamala Harris is elected, she will demonstrate strong continuity with the [US President Joe] Biden team,” said Young, who was AIT director from 2006 to 2009.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
As vice president, Harris has so far “pushed back vigorously against Chinese territorial claims, reinforcing American alliances with our many allies and friends in the Asia-Pacific region,” he said.
“She is working assiduously to deepen her knowledge of the defense needed to maintain our alliances, showing an ability to rapidly familiarize herself with the Biden policies and any necessary additions aimed at crafting a bipartisan approach to defending Taiwan’s territorial integrity,” he said.
While Trump would be “less predictable” than Harris if re-elected, the Republican former president “would still face significant opposition to any substantive shift away from Taipei,” he said.
“The American Congress, across party lines, has long supported moral and material support for Taipei and its democratic system, and this is unlikely to change in the foreseeable future,” he added.
Meanwhile, China’s economy is “stalling at a time when many of its regional neighbors are thriving,” which is expected to limit Beijing’s influence “domestically as well as regionally,” Young said.
“The West has also increasingly pushed back against China on the economic front with tariffs and other trade restrictions,” he said. “This process is likely to continue with negative impacts on China’s domestic and international policies.”
Young urged Taiwan to “continue to bolster its defenses, especially in the Taiwan Strait and contiguous waters.”
The US, Japanese, Philippine and South Korean governments can also play a “productive role in this process,” he said, although he added that “it’s going to take time to rectify past differences” among US allies in creating responses to “Chinese aggression.”
Young made the remarks during his keynote address at a Taipei forum titled “The Political, Economic and Social Development Trends in Mainland China under Xi Jinping’s (習近平) Leadership.”
The one-day event was organized by the Mainland Affairs Council and the Institute for National Policy Research, a Taipei-based think tank.
Andrew Scobell, a distinguished fellow with the China program at the government-funded US Institute of Peace, also spoke at the forum, saying that China under Xi’s leadership is different than under previous leaders.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) under Xi has “doubled down” on bolstering its internal security mechanisms and apparatus, and elevated its attention to domestic matters, Scobell said.
As the most “ambitious top leader” since Mao Zedong (毛澤東), Xi’s elevated aspirations for “national rejuvenation” also include unprecedented foreign policy ambitions regionally and globally, he said.
The CCP’s goal of transforming China into a “global power of major consequence” seems to be intensifying, he said, adding that this ambition could make Xi’s China more “outwardly adventurous” in the years to come.
Beijing could eventually see a full amphibious invasion of Taiwan as the only "prudent" way to bring about unification, the US Department of Defense said in a newly released annual report to Congress. The Pentagon's "Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2025," was in many ways similar to last year’s report but reorganized the analysis of the options China has to take over Taiwan. Generally, according to the report, Chinese leaders view the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) capabilities for a Taiwan campaign as improving, but they remain uncertain about its readiness to successfully seize
Taiwan is getting a day off on Christmas for the first time in 25 years. The change comes after opposition parties passed a law earlier this year to add or restore five public holidays, including Constitution Day, which falls on today, Dec. 25. The day marks the 1947 adoption of the constitution of the Republic of China, as the government in Taipei is formally known. Back then the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) governed China from Nanjing. When the KMT, now an opposition party in Taiwan, passed the legislation on holidays, it said that they would help “commemorate the history of national development.” That
Taiwan has overtaken South Korea this year in per capita income for the first time in 23 years, IMF data showed. Per capita income is a nation’s GDP divided by the total population, used to compare average wealth levels across countries. Taiwan also beat Japan this year on per capita income, after surpassing it for the first time last year, US magazine Newsweek reported yesterday. Across Asia, Taiwan ranked fourth for per capita income at US$37,827 this year due to sustained economic growth, the report said. In the top three spots were Singapore, Macau and Hong Kong, it said. South
HORROR STORIES: One victim recounted not realizing they had been stabbed and seeing people bleeding, while another recalled breaking down in tears after fleeing A man on Friday died after he tried to fight the knife-wielding suspect who went on a stabbing spree near two of Taipei’s busiest metro stations, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. The 57-year-old man, identified by his family name, Yu (余), encountered the suspect at Exit M7 of Taipei Main Station and immediately tried to stop him, but was fatally wounded and later died, Chiang said, calling the incident “heartbreaking.” Yu’s family would receive at least NT$5 million (US$158,584) in compensation through the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp’s (TRTC) insurance coverage, he said after convening an emergency security response meeting yesterday morning. National
RSS