NEW DELHI – Taiwan expects US President Donald Trump’s administration to continue to support it – along with supplies of US weaponry – in case of hostilities with China, a senior Taiwanese official said March 17.
“We need the US support to sell us the most advanced weapons, and also to help train our soldiers, and they are doing that,” Mr Hsu Szu-chien, deputy secretary general of Taiwan’s National Security Council and an adviser to the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy, told Bloomberg News in New Delhi.
“We don’t expect the US or anyone else to fight our war, we will fight our own war,” he said.
Mr Hsu’s remarks, on the sidelines of the Raisina Dialogue conference in India’s capital hosted by the Ministry of External Affairs and New Delhi-based think tank Observer Research Foundation, come as President Trump is upending global alliances, raising questions about US support for long-time partners.
Taiwan has said it too is rethinking how it deals with the United States, following the recent deterioration in Washington’s relations with Kyiv and its overtures towards Russia to end its war in Ukraine, with some Taiwanese officials saying the island territory cannot rely on others to maintain peace.
Beijing claims the self-governing island as part of its territory and has long maintained a policy to bring it under mainland control, by force if necessary.
The US’ de-facto ambassador to Taiwan has said Washington is trying to speed up arms shipments to the island territory.
Though the flow of American military hardware to Taiwan has been slowed in recent years due to US backing of Ukraine following Russia’s invasion, Taiwan depends on US military support in any conflict to fend off China.
Mr Hsu added that any Chinese amphibious attack across the Taiwan Strait is unlikely to succeed, given that the island has a missile shield to protect the beaches. He also said China wishes the world to know that it’s a global power that can compete with the US, as evidenced by its recent military exercises off the coast of Australia.
He also said security cooperation between Taipei and Washington have grown and strengthened in the last few years. Peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait is “very pertinent to the core national interest of US in this region”, he said.
Separately, Mr Hsu said Taiwan hopes to hold trade talks with India, saying the South Asian nation’s high tariffs were a hurdle for Taiwanese businesses. India has some of the world’s highest import duties, though it has been rolling back some of its tariffs ahead of US threats to begin imposing reciprocal duties worldwide starting on April 2.
“At least from Taiwan, we have very strong intent to have a trade negotiation with India,” Mr Hsu said. “It has to do with the fact that tariff is really high.” Bloomberg
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