The commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command recently handed over, and both former Commander Davidson (right) and new Commander Aquilino believe that the strategic ambiguity policy on Taiwan Strait issues should be reviewed. Photo: taken from the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command Facebook page
In the face of the increasingly obvious ambition of the Chinese Communist Party to unify Taiwan, and the growing strategic importance of Taiwan, Joseph Bosco, former chief of the Chinese Communist Section in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, wrote to The Hill suggesting that the U.S. might as well turn defense into offense, with the Chinese Communist Party previously saying “Taiwan independence means war. “The U.S. should now set a bottom line – immediately recognize Taiwan if it starts a war – to demonstrate the U.S. determination to defend Taiwan from attack or blockade.
In 1995, the Chinese military asked the then Bill Clinton administration how the U.S. would respond if the Communist Party launched an attack on Taiwan. The Chinese Communist Party was told, “We don’t know. …… It depends on the situation. As a result, Beijing spent the next 2.5 years creating an environment that would prevent the U.S. from intervening in the Taiwan Strait conflict.
Although the U.S. carrier fleet has been active in the South China Sea in recent years, Bauschke noted that only one carrier has passed through the Taiwan Strait since 1995, in contrast to the new Chinese carriers that regularly pass through, asserting that the international waterway is owned by the Chinese Communist Party. The U.S. policy of “we don’t know what we’re going to do” has blocked Beijing’s attempts to attack Taiwan for 26 years, but it has not prevented the CCP from preparing to attack in the future.
The U.S. chief of national intelligence (DNI) Haynes said last week that if the U.S. were to abandon its “strategic ambiguity” on Taiwan and state its intention to intervene in the Taiwan Strait conflict, it could allow Beijing to more actively undermine U.S. global interests. Bauschke was not convinced, arguing that Haynes’ argument was a dance with the Chinese Communist Party. He pointed out that both the former and former commanders of Indo-Pacific Command have struggled with Washington’s decades-long policy of strategic ambiguity, and that U.S. policy has long caused serious damage because of its lack of clarity. He praised the current Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and the DPP government for their extreme restraint in the face of escalating threats from the CCP and for avoiding giving Beijing any excuse for aggression.
Bauschko suggested that Washington and its allies should propose to the Chinese Communist Party to think backwards: a declaration of war would mean Taiwan’s independence, and in the event of war in the Taiwan Strait, the United States would not only defend Taiwan from attack or blockade, but would immediately recognize Taiwan as an independent and sovereign member of the international community.
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