US President Donald Trump’s nominee to oversee the Pentagon’s defence strategy faced intense scrutiny from the Senate Armed Services Committee during his confirmation hearing on Tuesday, including about what members called his “softened” views on Taiwan.
If confirmed by the Senate as undersecretary of defence for policy – the No 3 position in the Department of Defence – Elbridge Colby, grandson of one-time CIA director William Colby, would also oversee the Pentagon budget and manage crisis response.
Colby, 45, served briefly at the Pentagon during Trump’s first term and advocated strengthening military deterrence to prevent conflicts, especially with Beijing. He was also the lead author of the department’s 2018 National Defence Strategy.
Colby, whose nomination has reportedly created rifts among Republican senators, was also grilled regarding his stance on reducing American involvement in the Middle East, particularly with Iran, while shifting the Pentagon’s focus on countering China.
“Your views on Taiwan’s importance to the United States seems to have softened, softened considerably. I hope we can clarify those views today,” Senator Roger Wicker, the Mississippi Republican who chairs the committee, said in his opening remarks.
In a September column for The Wall Street Journal, Colby, a long-time China hawk, argued that Taiwan “isn’t of itself of existential importance to America”, asserting that “our core interest is in denying China regional hegemony over Asia.
“Taiwan is very important for that goal, but not essential.”
