US treading carefully as row between Taipei and Manila escalates
Washington keen to avoid trouble between its allies as it steps up deployment in Asia-Pacific
Analysts expect Washington to tread cautiously in the row between two of its Asian allies over the killing of a Taiwanese fisherman by the Philippine coastguard.
The United States was unlikely to play an active role in the dispute, said Professor Alexander Huang Chieh-cheng, of the Graduate Institute of International Affairs and Strategic Studies at Tamkang University in Taipei.
"With its strategic 'pivot' to the Asia-Pacific region, the US doesn't want to see any conflicts between its allies because it would get it into trouble," Huang said. "It's not convenient for Washington to make any comment because the joint judicial investigation by Taipei and Manila into this fatal shooting hasn't formally started."
A Filipino security expert also said the US would be careful not to anger its two allies.
Herman Kraft, executive director of the Manila-based Institute for Strategic and Development Studies said: "As far as the US is concerned, they would rather not be playing any significant role or saying anything that might put them in an awkward position with either of the two players, which are allies."
Kraft, also a political science professor at the University of the Philippines, pointed out that US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki had used the word "confrontation" to describe the shooting.
Psaki said in Washington on Monday: "We regret the tragic death of a Taiwan fishing boat master during a May 9 confrontation at sea with a Philippine patrol vessel."