The US’ latest National Defense Strategy (NDS) could have far-reaching implications for cross-strait relations and Taiwan’s arms procurements from Washington, Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Legislator Chang Chi-kai (張?楷) said on Sunday.
Chang’s remarks follow a report published on Friday by Politico that said the Pentagon’s new draft strategy would place greater emphasis on defending the US homeland and western hemisphere, rather than prioritizing threats from China and Russia.
Such a reorientation could have consequences for Taiwan’s security planning and its long-term defense interests, Chang said.
Photo: Reuters
“This represents a major change for cross-strait relations,” he said. “We must carefully consider whether our cooperation with the US, including arms purchases, will be significantly affected.”
Taiwan must continue to strengthen its defense capabilities and ensure it possesses a credible deterrence, while pursuing dialogue and peace across the Taiwan Strait to avoid conflict, he added.
The strategy shift is a departure from US President Donald Trump’s first term, when his administration in the 2018 NDS emphasized deterring Chinese aggression and countering its military rise.
One person who attended a briefing on the draft submitted last week to US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth described it as a major reversal that could prompt allies in Europe and Asia to question Washington’s long-term commitments, Politico reported.
The NDS is the Pentagon’s highest-level strategic guidance document, typically issued at the start of each new administration.
While Hegseth could alter the draft, recent developments in the US suggest a more inward-focused posture, Politico reported, citing the White House’s deployment of US National Guard troops to Los Angeles and Washington, and the Pentagon dispatching ships and aircraft to the Caribbean for counternarcotics missions, while authorizing the use of lethal force against noncombatants.
US Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby, who played a central role in drafting the 2018 NDS, is leading the strategy shift, it said.
Although regarded as a “China hawk,” Colby has also long advocated a more isolationist US foreign policy, aligning with US Vice President J.D. Vance’s call to reduce the US’ overseas commitments, it said.
Colby’s team is also preparing two related reports, expected to be released next month: a global posture review, which would outline US troop deployments worldwide, and a theater air and missile defense review, which would evaluate allied air defense systems and recommend deployment sites, the newspaper said.
Sources told Politico that the three documents emphasize the same theme: urging US allies to assume greater responsibility for their own security, while the US concentrates on defending its own territory and immediate regional interests.
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