US keeping status quo on Taiwan policy is ‘vitally important’, senior American diplomat testifies
- Allies and partners described as more willing and comfortable to stand alongside Washington when they understand stance espouses ‘peace and stability’
- Amid Beijing’s rhetoric and tactics, ‘much more productive to focus on concrete, tangible means to build Taiwan’s deterrent capability’, official adds
Testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations committee, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink said “it’s vitally important that the United States continue to be the party working towards the status quo, maintaining the status quo, not being the party that is somehow changing our approach”.
Such an approach would garner broad support from US allies, Kritenbrink added.
“When they understand that we stand for status quo and peace and stability, not for coercion and intimidation, I think it increases partners’ willingness and comfort to stand up with us.”
For decades, Washington has pursued a policy of “strategic ambiguity” towards Taiwan, a deliberately vague stance on defending the self-governed island should it face armed conflict with Beijing.
The State Department, however, has attempted to walk back interpretations that strategic ambiguity was no longer upheld.
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On Tuesday, Democratic senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, chair of the subcommittee overseeing the hearing, said Beijing was using “increasingly bellicose” rhetoric and tactics that seek to undermine the status quo across the Taiwan Strait.
Van Hollen separately referenced those who advocated greater “strategic clarity” in US policy towards Taipei.
Kritenbrink, in response, said “it is much more productive to focus on concrete, tangible means to build Taiwan’s deterrent capability”, highlighting American economic, diplomatic and defence support for the island.
The assistant secretary acknowledged on Tuesday that “precipitous action” by China against Taiwan would be “deeply destabilising” and “unacceptable”. But he voiced reluctance about elaborating “what may or may not happen in such a scenario”.
Beijing sees Taiwan as part of China to be reunited by force if necessary. It has consistently opposed Taiwan’s participation in international organisations and has in recent years courted the island’s remaining dozen-or-so allies to switch allegiances.
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Most countries, including the US, do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state, but Washington is opposed to any attempt to take the island by force and is committed to supplying it with weapons.
The US senators at Tuesday’s hearing largely agreed with Kritenbrink on maintaining the status quo, though some pushed him to address how to counter China’s attempts to isolate Taiwan diplomatically.
In his answer, Kritenbrink stressed the value of continued coordination between Washington and Taipei. Taiwan’s unofficial partners like the US were “at least as important” as its formal partners, he said.
