America’s Strategic Ambiguity on Taiwan Possibly ‘Dangerous’: US Lawmaker

Rep. Steve Chabot (R-Ohio) in the Longworth House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on December 4, 2019. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

The U.S. policy of strategic ambiguity on Taiwan could be “dangerous” as it offers no security guarantee for the self-ruled island, which Beijing regards as part of its territory, a U.S. lawmaker has said.

Rep. Steve Chabot (R-Ohio), the co-chair of the bipartisan Congressional Taiwan Caucus, said the Biden administration should end the policy of strategic ambiguity and declare its commitment to defend Taiwan from Chinese invasion.

“I think that would make it less likely that China would actually take military action,” Chabot said in an interview with Nikkei Asia on Wednesday.

Chabot also pushed for stronger military intelligence sharing between the U.S. and Taiwan to better counter China’s military threats, while raising concerns about Taiwan’s flaws in combat readiness.

Washington has focused on enhancing Taiwan’s asymmetric-warfare capabilities with anti-ship missiles, missile defenses, and early warning systems, which is consistent with Taiwan’s goal. But Chabot believes that Taiwan’s efforts have been insufficient thus far.

“Unfortunately, over the years, they haven’t taken the threat seriously enough either,” he said, adding that Taiwan was “not devoting enough of their budget to their own military preparedness.”

Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) speaks during a hearing with the Helsinki Commission in the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington on March 23, 2022. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Senator Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said in May that Taiwan should consider purchasing large amounts of U.S.-made anti-ship missiles, sea mines, aerial drones, and tank-busting drones to prepare for potential conflicts.

“As a prosperous first-world nation, Taiwan can easily afford the high-end U.S. weapons needed to deter a Chinese invasion. Unfortunately, Taiwan does not spend nearly enough on it own defenses,” he said in a statement.

“We are already selling Taiwan F-16 fighter jets, and we should speed up these sales while making older models available sooner. Taiwan can pay for all this by boosting defense spending by $7 billion—a small price to pay to prevent war.”

‘One China’ policy

The United States has taken an ambiguous stance on its commitment to Taiwan’s security. While President Joe Biden has said that Washington will defend Taiwan if China attacks, the U.S. policy on Taiwan remains unchanged.

According to the State Department, Washington does not support Taiwan’s independence and opposes any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side.

An H-6 bomber of the Chinese army flies near a Taiwan F-16 on Feb. 10, 2020. Taiwan Ministry of National Defense/Handout via Reuters

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin said on June 11 that Washington remains committed to the “One China” policy, although it would still provide Taiwan with the capabilities necessary to maintain its defense.

“And it means maintaining our own capacity to resist any use of force or other forms of coercion that would jeopardize the security or the social or economic system of the people of Taiwan,” Austin said at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.

Cross-strait tensions have been escalating in recent months, with China making its second-largest incursion into Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone on May 30 with 30 PLA warplanes.

Austin said the Chinese communist regime has become “more coercive and aggressive” in its territorial claims, citing Beijing’s illegal maritime activities in the disputed South China Sea.

But the stakes are “especially stark in the Taiwan Strait,” he said.

“We’ve witnessed a steady increase in provocative and destabilizing military activity near Taiwan. And that includes PLA aircraft flying near Taiwan in record numbers in recent months, and nearly on a daily basis,” he said.