During an event organized by Policy Exchange, a British conservative think tank, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday that the U.S. should drop its strategic ambiguity toward Taiwan, Taiwan News reports.
Though he was not able to accomplish it during his time as secretary of state, Pompeo said he always thought Washington should abandon its longtime strategy and clearly state whether it believes Taiwan belongs to China or is an independent country, according to CNA. Chinese President Xi Jinping has said that Taiwan is a part of China.
Pointing to the Russian invasion of Ukraine as an example, Pompeo said ambiguity is dangerous because the nations bordering the former Soviet country do not know how to respond to the conflict, according to the News.
Pompeo added that ambiguity will give dictatorships more opportunity and make responding in time difficult for democracies, adding that Xi understands this.
Pompeo also reminded those in attendance that Taiwan is a complex issue and involves the controversial nine-dash line and nearby countries such as the Philippines and Japan. He told the audience that he is most concerned about China using propaganda and intelligence campaigns to enforce security, imprison the people, and control the local government, similar to its actions in Hong Kong.
Taiwan’s sovereignty would be weakened after a few years of these types of measures, Pompeo said, essentially making it a part of China. Calling it the biggest risk Taiwan faces, Pompeo said ways must be found to prevent Taiwan’s annexation, according to the News.
In an interview with ABC News last August, President Joe Biden seemed to include Taiwan among countries to which Washington has explicit defense commitments.
"They are ... entities we've made agreements with based on not a civil war they're having on that island or in South Korea, but on an agreement where they have a unity government that, in fact, is trying to keep bad guys from doing bad things to them," Biden said.
"We have made — kept every commitment,” the president continued. “We made a sacred commitment to Article 5 that if, in fact, anyone were to invade or take action against our NATO allies, we would respond. Same with Japan, same with South Korea, same with ... Taiwan. It's not even comparable to talk about that."
A senior Biden administration official later said that U.S. “policy with regard to Taiwan has not changed” and analysts theorized that Biden seemed to have misspoken.
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