U.S. reaffirms Taiwan Relations Act in national security strategy
ROC Central News Agency
2017/12/19 14:52:42
Washington, Dec. 18 (CNA) The United States reaffirmed its commitment to providing defensive weapons to Taiwan under the Taiwan Relations Act, in a new national security strategy (NSS) unveiled on Monday by U.S. President Donald Trump.
"We will maintain our strong ties with Taiwan in accordance with our 'One China' policy, including our commitments under the Taiwan Relations Act to provide for Taiwan's legitimate defense needs and deter coercion," according to the NSS report.
The report identifies China and Russia as revisionist powers that are among challengers actively competing against the United States, its allies and partners.
It says China seeks to displace the United States in the Indo-Pacific region, expand the reach of its state-driven economic model and reorder the region in its favor.
China's efforts to build and militarize outposts in the South China Sea endanger the free flow of trade, threaten the sovereignty of other nations, and undermine regional stability, the report notes.
China is using economic inducements and penalties, influence operations, and implied military threats to persuade other states to heed its political and security agenda, according to the NSS report.
Asked to comment on the report, American experts on Asia said it shows U.S. policy toward Taiwan has not changed and that arms sales to Taiwan will continue.
"I don't see anything new in Trump's position since receiving President Tsai's congratulatory phone call and then speaking with President Xi," said Douglas H. Paal, vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, who served as the director of the American Institute in Taiwan from 2002 to 2006.
Tsai refers to Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and Xi to China's President Xi Jinping (習近平).
The NSS has no clear implications for arms sales, but the general policy statement will certainly be interpreted in America as authorizing future sales, Paal said in an e-mail response to CNA.
The NSS is pretty clear that it means the U.S. will resist expansion of Chinese influence in the region, whether or not it can change the trajectory of China's accumulation of power, Paal said.
Meanwhile, Bonnie S. Glaser, a senior adviser for Asia and the director of the China Power Project at CSIS, said the new NSS will not have any impact on any specific decision regarding U.S. policy toward Taiwan.
"It is just a reiteration of U.S. policy. Nothing new," she said.
Noting that the U.S.-China relationship has been characterized by competition and cooperation for at least a decade, Glaser said she expects the two will continue to work together where interests converge.
The U.S. cannot stop China from developing its military capabilities, but it can try to influence how China uses them, Glaser said.
In the South China Sea, a strategy is needed that persuades the Chinese that the cost is too high to use their newly created islands to impair freedom of navigation or to challenge others' sovereignty claims, she added.
However, she admitted it could be a very difficult challenge because China has made a lot of headway in this area.
(By Rita Cheng, Chiang Chin-yeh and Evelyn Kao)
Enditem/AW
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