Care must be taken to avoid “a selfish pursuit of national interest” in the shifting landscape of global geopolitics, Ryan Hass, a US foreign policy analyst and former White House official, said at a talk in Taipei on Thursday.
However, Taiwan’s government leaders would be “off to a good start” by “packag[ing] their views” in line with the incoming US administration under president-elect Donald Trump, Hass said.
“We are going to be in a period of selfish pursuit of national interest,” said Hass, who served as the director for China, Taiwan and Mongolian Affairs at the US National Security Council from 2013 to 2017 during the administration of then-US president Barack Obama.
Photo: CNA
Hass is director of the John L. Thornton China Center at the Washington-based Brookings Institution, which cohosted Thursday’s event with Taiwan’s Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research.
“Many countries will look out for themselves and their own interests” as the world is entering a new geopolitical era and there would be less coordination among countries in the face of global challenges, he said.
Hass cited the need for the government to “continue making the case [that] peace and stability [across the Taiwan Strait] is a prerequisite for a functioning global economy and for stability” in the Indo-Pacific region.
“Every country that is connected to the global economy has a stake in what happens in Taiwan, in Taiwan’s security,” he said.
The analyst also said that Taiwan, with the Democratic Progressive Party having been in power since 2016, has experience dealing with Trump during his first presidency and should be “as well-positioned as anyone to be able to manage and navigate the period to come.”
Taiwan’s leaders “can package their view of the future relationship in ways that resonate with the incoming Trump administration, including the language that they use,” he said, adding that “it will help get the relationship off to a good start.”
“So thinking less about, for example, ‘democracy versus authoritarianism,’ which was more in the [US President Joe] Biden administration’s view of the world, and more toward [Trump’s slogan of] ‘peace through strength,’” he said.
Asked if that means Taiwan would be asked to spend more on defense, Hass said the new administration “would welcome additional investment by Taiwan in its own defense, but that’ll be a choice that ultimately is with the Taiwan people to decide.”
The US’ and Taiwan’s interests are “broadly convergent,” he said. “We want a safe, secure, prosperous [and] confident Taiwan.”
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