The Global Taiwan Institute (GTI), a Washington-based think tank, called on Taiwan to increase its defense budget and procure necessary weapons to comprehensively respond to threats from China in a report released today.
The report, titled “US-Taiwan Relations: Advancing Four Pillars of the Strategic Partnership,” urged the US to more promptly provide Taiwan with critical arms and strengthen joint operational planning and training with Taiwan.
The report reviewed the foundations of US policy toward Taiwan and assessed the development of the US-Taiwan strategic relationship in four key areas: security, international space, economic ties and people-to-people exchanges.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of National Defense
Amid growing challenges from China, the report offered policy recommendations to maintain peace and stability.
In terms of defense and security, the report said that the US should enhance joint operational planning and training with Taiwan to address scenarios involving hard power threats, coercion and “gray zone” activities.
The report also emphasized that Taiwanese politicians should avoid politicizing defense issues and that Taiwan’s security should remain a bipartisan issue in the US.
US policymakers should assist Taiwan’s diplomatic allies in resisting pressure from China to switch recognition and US Congress should pass the Taiwan Allies Fund Act to provide financial support for such efforts, the report said.
The US and its like-minded partners should also explore innovative ways to allow Taiwanese technical experts to participate in UN technical agency activities, it said.
In the economic realm, the report said the US should send more senior economic officials to Taiwan and encourage more Taiwanese semiconductor and high-tech firms to invest in the US.
Finally, regarding people-to-people exchanges, the report said US-Taiwan exchanges should be expanded into multilateral formats involving like-minded allies to counter China’s attempts to isolate Taiwan.
The US should also regularize high-level visits by officials responsible for people-to-people exchanges, it said.
Separately at a GTI panel discussion yesterday in the US, top US officials said that while Taiwan should increase its defense spending, its defense budget does not need to be 10 percent of its GDP.
Former American Institute in Taiwan director William Brent Christensen said that a 10-percent GDP target is “unrealistic for Taiwan.”
Derek Mitchell, former president of the National Democratic Institute, said that though Taiwan needs to increase its defense spending, strengthening its defense is not solely its responsibility.
The US must also bolster its defense industrial base to more rapidly deliver the needed equipment to Taiwan, Mitchell said.
GTI executive director Russell Hsiao said that a 10-percent GDP defense spending target must be understood in the context of a “denial strategy” aimed at preventing China from taking Taiwan by force.
A “denial strategy” requires US military involvement, and for US defense and policy planners, such involvement must be feasible at an acceptable cost, Hsiao said.
This strategy’s effectiveness depends not only on US commitment, but also on greater investment from allies and partners, he said.
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